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Friday, June 27, 2008

Constitutional Self-Defense

Doc Berman over at Sentencing Law and Policy
begins to dissect the opinion on gun rights and how it applies to felons, if indeed they are included in "all Americans" . As usual it is excellent reading:

It starts with

Here are sets of quotes from the majority opinion in Heller that I have a hard time adding up:

We start therefore with a strong presumption that the Second Amendment right is exercised individually and belongs to all Americans. (Slip op. at 10, emphasis added.)

It was plainly the understanding in the post-Civil War Congress that the Second Amendment protected an individual right to use arms for self-defense. (Slip op. at 44, emphasis added.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

When my friend Doug bought his first gun and showed it to me, he was dreaming of being an armed security guard. He took all the training on safety. I warned him he was:
1) going to have an accidental shooting
2) going to kill his wife
3) going to kill himself

He got drunk one night and got killed by a cop when he refused to put his gun down.
Guns are playthings that kill. There is no need for tehm with the modern technology that can keep you safe without killing someone.

Anonymous said...

ABSOLUTELY. I dont think the fore-fathers envisioned this one right. Guns have become a SERIOUS problem in this country, AND a political hot potato. Politicians are getting themselves into hot water because the issue is not only pre-historic, but so damn complicated. On the one hand you would think that allowing guns would help a citizen protect him/herself, and maybe psychologically it does, but how often is an event involving a gun reported to have someone actually protecting themselves rather than a criminal perpetrating a crime? The right to bare arms is based on a place in time that was SO MUCH DIFFERENT, and made before the full effect of it's intent could be seen. Unfortunately, how in the hell would we get rid of them even if we could?