Gösta H. Lovgren
December 15th, 2007, 11:12 AM
The Intent of the Second Amendment
Now that gun bans in Washington, D.C., are under Supreme Court
review, the court must confront a crucial question: Is there an
individual right to bear arms? Nearly no one argues that the Fourth
Amendment right of “the people” to be free from unreasonable searches
and seizures should not apply as an individual right. Yet where the
same language appears in the Second Amendment, affirming the right of
“the people” to keep and bear arms, many gun control advocates
contend that there is no individual right at stake. Instead, they
argue that the Second Amendment protects a collective right, one
enjoyed by the respective states’ National Guard units.
According to a new op-ed by Independent Institute Senior Fellow and
legal scholar Stephen P. Halbrook, however, “These attempts to
deconstruct ignore that ‘the people’ means you and me, not the
states, and that no ‘right’ exists to do anything in a military
force—a militiaman does what is commanded.” Gun control proponents
also neglect American history. After the American Revolutionary War,
“Antifederalists protested that [the newly framed Constitution]
included no declaration of rights and would allow deprivation of
rights like free speech and keeping arms. James Madison responded in
The Federalist that a declaration was unnecessary, in part because of
‘the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the
people of almost every other nation.”
A Bill of Rights was ratified to keep the new U.S. government limited
and the American people free. Violations of the right to bear arms
were a key grievance the colonists had against the British Crown. It
is unimaginable that the Founders would have trusted government with
control over individual weapons ownership. In the forthcoming Supreme
Court deliberations, Halbrook hopes that “the Justices will be
mindful of the Founders’ intent and will recognize that the Second
Amendment is every bit a part of the Bill of Rights as is the First.”
“Our Second Amendment: The Founders’ Intent,” by Stephen P. Halbrook
(12/06/07) Spanish Translation
That Every Man Be Armed: The Evolution of a Constitutional Right, by
Stephen P. Halbrook
================================================== ==============
Man is what he reads.
Joseph Brodsky
================================================== ==============
Now that gun bans in Washington, D.C., are under Supreme Court
review, the court must confront a crucial question: Is there an
individual right to bear arms? Nearly no one argues that the Fourth
Amendment right of “the people” to be free from unreasonable searches
and seizures should not apply as an individual right. Yet where the
same language appears in the Second Amendment, affirming the right of
“the people” to keep and bear arms, many gun control advocates
contend that there is no individual right at stake. Instead, they
argue that the Second Amendment protects a collective right, one
enjoyed by the respective states’ National Guard units.
According to a new op-ed by Independent Institute Senior Fellow and
legal scholar Stephen P. Halbrook, however, “These attempts to
deconstruct ignore that ‘the people’ means you and me, not the
states, and that no ‘right’ exists to do anything in a military
force—a militiaman does what is commanded.” Gun control proponents
also neglect American history. After the American Revolutionary War,
“Antifederalists protested that [the newly framed Constitution]
included no declaration of rights and would allow deprivation of
rights like free speech and keeping arms. James Madison responded in
The Federalist that a declaration was unnecessary, in part because of
‘the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the
people of almost every other nation.”
A Bill of Rights was ratified to keep the new U.S. government limited
and the American people free. Violations of the right to bear arms
were a key grievance the colonists had against the British Crown. It
is unimaginable that the Founders would have trusted government with
control over individual weapons ownership. In the forthcoming Supreme
Court deliberations, Halbrook hopes that “the Justices will be
mindful of the Founders’ intent and will recognize that the Second
Amendment is every bit a part of the Bill of Rights as is the First.”
“Our Second Amendment: The Founders’ Intent,” by Stephen P. Halbrook
(12/06/07) Spanish Translation
That Every Man Be Armed: The Evolution of a Constitutional Right, by
Stephen P. Halbrook
================================================== ==============
Man is what he reads.
Joseph Brodsky
================================================== ==============