What should you know?

M

MTGreen

New member
I have spent the day (and night) reading up on legal issues relating to the right to keep and bear arms (RKBA).

I looked in to the civil rights forums and perhaps spent way too much time there.

I am raising the issue in this forum because I would like to know what people who support RKBA think is is an appropriate level of knowlege/participation in the topic.

I am a teacher, but some time back I practiced law. Today I felt a little guilty for letting the details of the effort slide past me, and I am thankful for people like Alan Gura who are getting things done.

Three cases worth looking into are:
District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008)

Woollard v. Gallagher, No. 12-1437, argued Oct. 24, 2012 appealing Woollard v. Sheridan, No. L-10-2068, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28498 (D. Md. March 2, 2012)

and

Kachalsky v. County of Westchester, No. 11-3642,
2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 24363 (2d Cir. Nov. 27, 2012)
 
It's important to follow your state legislator/gun bills that are being passed right now. (Sorry if that seems obvious, but it may be hard to keep up with bills and the policy process if you live in a purple or blue state) Those cases you listed also are pretty important to reference.
 
... I would like to know what people who support RKBA think is is an appropriate level of knowlege/participation in the topic.
Click to expand...

You can never know too much. That said, it's like anything else on the internet, you need to develop a sense for whether what you are reading is exaggerated, true, believed to be true, but naive and every other color of partly true.

"Participation in the topic" can mean a couple of different things. Do you mean participation in Defending the Second Amendment (RKBA) or participation here on the board?
 
Welcome to TFL, MTGreen!

If you want to "participate" in discussions or defending the RKBA, make yourself at home down in L&CR. As Brian pointed out, you can't know too much about your rights. We've also got links, or can point you to, resources for contacting your state and federal legislators. Now is not the time to be quiet.
 
Now is the time.

Bud,

Inherent in the Second Amendment is the concept that Americans need to be prepaired to come to the defense of our country, community, home and person.

A gun owner should be prepared to safely keep and bare arms.

The ability to do so is being threatened by legislatures, courts, the President, and public figures across the country.

A person who supports the RKBA needs to decide the level at which he is willing to act in support of it.

That decision is predicated upon a person's understanding of the issue.

Opinions vary, but how much knowledge is necessary for an informed opinion and a proper basis for decisions on how to act?

Obviously this is a decision we all need to make for ourselves. I asked the question because would like to know how others have gone about making these decisions.

I came to this site becasue I have recently started reloading. As I have learned about reloading, and supply issues that go along with it, I have become more interested in developing my knowledge and activity level in the RKBA.
 
I'll second the welcome, MTGreen -- glad to have you with us.

A good place to start is with the "Repository" sticky at the top of the Law & Civil Rights forum.

A site I like is FactCheck.org -- it's about as unbiased as anything out there, and it does a good job of evaluating the claims made by both sides.

I'd add that it isn't all about how much you know, but rather about being willing to think critically about the issue, understanding that a great deal of the rhetoric coming from the anti-gun side and the pro-gun side is more about whipping up emotions than about presenting facts. The latter can be hard to come by.

And as Spats said, spend some time browsing the threads in L&CR... it's a great resource.
 
Thanks

Thanks Vanya.

The Repository is a type of resource that is very helpful.

One thing I have learned in my studies of the past few days is that while "outside the home" is the current issue before the courts, and clearest point upon with to build the new body of jurisprudence, the future jurisprudence will center upon weapons "in common use at the time" and "sensitive places" in which the right may be restricted, along with some issues relating to denying classes of persons of the right.

The most significant determination may be the appropriate level of scrutiny for legislative decisions.

From an action standpoint, this puts guns like the AR-15 at issue and weapons bans at issue. If legislatures can kill off popular weapons before the jurisprudence get to "in common use at the time" important weapons options may be blocked. It will not be enough for states like New York, Maryland, or Illinois to ban such weapons, only a federal ban will be significant enough to determine a constitutional finding of "in common use at the time."
 
Margins

Of course, movement happens at the margins, and I do not advocate giving any ground without contest.
 
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