In her note "Prying the Second Amendment's Meaning from the Founders' Cold Dead Hands" at http://www.kcba.org/scriptcontent/KCBA/barbulletin/current/article1.cfm Sarah Kaltsounis treats the Second Amendment as if it was written "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the MILITIA to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." There are many examples that illustrate her mind-set, but a simple one is her statement 'There doesn't seem to be any indication that the framers intended to grant this right to women, who were completely excluded from all historical definitions of "militia."'
Ms. Kaltsounis has failed in the most elemental way to interpret the Second Amendment the way it was written which is: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the PEOPLE to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." The founders would recognize women as belonging to the PEOPLE (although at the time, only free white women likely) and as a challenge I ask anyone to show an example of a gun control law passed by Congress or the State Legislatures prior to 1900 which specifically excluded women from owning firearms. The subordinate clause in the Second Amendment is giving the founders view of an important reason for the PEOPLE to have the right to arms. Consistent with that view, as Ms. Kaltsounis observes, Congress passed laws requiring members of the militia (defined for practical purposes as white males of a certain age) to arm themselves. However, Congress cannot define the PEOPLE and didn't. Moreover, certain people are excluded from membership in the Militia (specifically, some members of the government and clergy) and no one would imagine these PEOPLE could be disarmed. So, before anyone races to join her legal test case to see 'what role we play in the "well-regulated militia,"' you should understand that you do not have to play any militia role to avail yourself of your rights protected by the Second Amendment -- you have only to belong to the PEOPLE of the United States of America. Sincerely, Philip F. Lee Quoting [EMAIL PROTECTED]: > Here's an article from the current King County Bar Bulletin (Seattle, > Washington and surrounding area), on the front page, below the fold in the > paper version. I'm not sure how long the link will last: > > http://www.kcba.org/scriptcontent/KCBA/barbulletin/current/article1.cfm > ------------------------------------------------- This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/ _______________________________________________ To post, send message to [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/firearmsregprof Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
