I have to agree that this argument seems weighed down with a number of
conceptual problems - chief among them that the second amendment is based on
the militia. First of all, what is the militia? For our Founders, the militia
was every able bodied male of a certain age. Today, militia is a more
confusing subject but normally thought of as an organized citizen force (i.e.
National Guard or the few actual state militias). But more importantly, the
militia clause of the second amendment is an explanatory clause that does not
frame the right provided by the amendment. In other words, the Second
Amendment would mean the same thing with or without the militia clause. It
merely provides context. It's dangerous to elevate the militia clause to the
point that it provides the parameters of the right. Madison proposed to place
the original draft of the Second Amendment in Article I, Section 9 of the
Constitution which limits congressional powers and provides such individual
protections as Habeas corpus and no bills of attainder. It cannot be stressed
enough that the ONLY other amendment Madison was going to place in Article I,
Section 9 was the what came to be the First Amendment - which is universally
regarded as protecting individual rights. Moreover, the language of the First
and Second Amendments is presented in the same manner - "the rights of the
people". > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Seek partners for amicus
brief in DC v. Heller> Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2007 09:41:56 -0700> To:
[email protected]> > > On Nov 21, 2007, at 6:20 AM, Jon Roland
wrote:> > > We are contemplating filing an amicus curiae brief of our own in DC
> > v. Heller, but might join with others. We will not duplicate the > >
arguments made by others, but will address the issue of what kind > > of
regulation of firearms, if any, is constitutional. Our position > > will be,
only regulation that enhances the effectiveness of > > militia. That could
include regulation of the safety of firearms, > > to exclude those that might
be dangerous to their users or to > > unintended targets, but nothing more
restrictive.> > This would seem to be a particularly dangerous argument to
offer, > inasmuch as the regulations that paralyzed the gun market roughly ten
> years ago in Massachusetts were couched behind the false flag of > "consumer
safety." For example, they demanded that guns have > completely unreasonable
trigger pulls so prevent six-year-olds from > operating them, and banned the
sale of any out-of-production > collectible for which you were unwilling or
financially unable to > provide six identical units to the state for
destructive testing.> > See
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3197/is_n1_v43/ai_20389666> > (Worth a
grin is the included quote from our friend Richard Feldman, > Mark I.)> > -->
Escape the Rat Race for Peace, Quiet, and Miles of Desert Beauty> Take a Sanity
Break at The Bunkhouse at Liberty Haven Ranch> http://libertyhavenranch.com> >
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