reefteach
Regular Member
imported post
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061204/EDIT02/612040375/1090
Gun lobby has misinformed public
I appreciate the desire of "Your voice" columnist Charles Donabedian ("Seek facts in debate over gun rights," Nov. 28) to inject fact into the debate over gun rights, and I thank him for his service to our country in Vietnam. His argument regarding the role of the Second Amendment in America today, however, is demonstrably wrong
I'm not a lawyer, but many learned individuals - including four U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal - disagree with Donabedian's analysis. In fact, the New York Times editorial to which he refers merely repeats the state of the law as it exists today.
As a social matter, there is no doubt many Americans assume the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to own a gun. And while the Fifth Circuit repeated that misconception in Emerson v. U.S., it is outnumbered by courts in the Fourth, Sixth, Eighth and Ninth Circuits. Consistent with the U.S. Supreme Court's 1939 ruling in U.S. v. Miller, they understand the amendment "guarantees a collective rather than an individual right" to bear arms. (That language, by the way, comes from the Sixth Circuit, sitting right there in my hometown of Cincinnati, and has been the law in Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky and Michigan since 1976.) The Second Amendment gives states the right to maintain militias - today's National Guard. It doesn't give individuals the right to own guns.
And another thing: The idea that individuals could have a right to arm themselves against the government violates even a lay reading of the treason clause of Article III, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution. Is the Second Amendment really a self-destruct button? Of course not.
For too long, the gun lobby has misinformed patriotic Americans about the nature of gun rights, and has blocked popular means of keeping guns out of the hands of gangsters and felons, based on its spurious reading of the Second Amendment.
If you weren't afraid your car would be confiscated after registering it at the BMV, then you won't be afraid to register your gun at the sheriff's office. If you think licensing is a good idea before people can drive, you probably think licensing is a good idea before people can shoot.
Gun lobby politics - not the Second Amendment - keep these measures from becoming law.
Doug Pennington, a lifelong Cincinnati resident, moved to Washington in June to work for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. This column reflects his personal views.
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061204/EDIT02/612040375/1090
Gun lobby has misinformed public
I appreciate the desire of "Your voice" columnist Charles Donabedian ("Seek facts in debate over gun rights," Nov. 28) to inject fact into the debate over gun rights, and I thank him for his service to our country in Vietnam. His argument regarding the role of the Second Amendment in America today, however, is demonstrably wrong
I'm not a lawyer, but many learned individuals - including four U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal - disagree with Donabedian's analysis. In fact, the New York Times editorial to which he refers merely repeats the state of the law as it exists today.
As a social matter, there is no doubt many Americans assume the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to own a gun. And while the Fifth Circuit repeated that misconception in Emerson v. U.S., it is outnumbered by courts in the Fourth, Sixth, Eighth and Ninth Circuits. Consistent with the U.S. Supreme Court's 1939 ruling in U.S. v. Miller, they understand the amendment "guarantees a collective rather than an individual right" to bear arms. (That language, by the way, comes from the Sixth Circuit, sitting right there in my hometown of Cincinnati, and has been the law in Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky and Michigan since 1976.) The Second Amendment gives states the right to maintain militias - today's National Guard. It doesn't give individuals the right to own guns.
And another thing: The idea that individuals could have a right to arm themselves against the government violates even a lay reading of the treason clause of Article III, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution. Is the Second Amendment really a self-destruct button? Of course not.
For too long, the gun lobby has misinformed patriotic Americans about the nature of gun rights, and has blocked popular means of keeping guns out of the hands of gangsters and felons, based on its spurious reading of the Second Amendment.
If you weren't afraid your car would be confiscated after registering it at the BMV, then you won't be afraid to register your gun at the sheriff's office. If you think licensing is a good idea before people can drive, you probably think licensing is a good idea before people can shoot.
Gun lobby politics - not the Second Amendment - keep these measures from becoming law.
Doug Pennington, a lifelong Cincinnati resident, moved to Washington in June to work for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. This column reflects his personal views.