Letters to the Editor
Xanthro
Published Letters: 522 Editor's Choice: 47
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Unconstitutional Gun Control Laws
[Read the article: Repeal the Second Amendment]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The truth is, that with one caveat, NO gun control laws have been found unconstitutional on 2A grounds -- not since 1939 anyway.
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The one case, for the enlightenment of others, since WeikuBoy knows the case, is US v. Emerson 1999. Which sites a number of cases I’ve already mentioned, and it concludes.
“A textual analysis of the Second Amendment supports an individual right to bear arms.”
“In retrospect the framers designed the Second Amendment to guarantee an individual's right to arms for self-defense.”
http://lw.bna.com/lw/19990427/698.htm
Just as an FYI to refute WeikuBoy’s claim I was unfamiliar with Emerson, that cases specifically mentions the standard model.
“The individual rights theorists, supporting what has become known in the academic literature as the ‘Standard Model’,”
For those unfamiliar with the case, Emerson is the law in the 5th district, but the Supreme Court decided not to hear the case and thus it has no precedence outside said district.
WeikuBoy seems to get most of his misinformation from http://www.gunlawsuits.org/defend/second/index.php
Personally, I don’t find Emerson as important as others, because the case did not set precedence.
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That is why I kept asking Xanthro for even one example of a gun law being struck down (since 1939), and he is simply unable to provide any.
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Printz v. United States 1997.
"The Brady Act's interim provision commanding CLEOs to conduct background checks, §922(s)(2), is unconstitutional."
United States v. Lopez 1995
In the Gun Free School Zones Act of 1990, Congress made it a federal offense "for any individual knowingly to possess a firearm at a place that the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone." 18 U.S.C. § 922(q)(1)(A) (1988 ed., Supp. V). The Act neither regulates a commercial activity nor contains a requirement that the possession be connected in any way to interstate commerce. We hold that the Act exceeds the authority of Congress "[t]o regulate Commerce . . . among the several States . . . ." U. S. Const., Art. I, §8, cl. 3.
Once again, the age of the decision does not matter, though these are two recent decisions finding a gun control provision unconstitutional.
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“Because the dirty little secret of the gun debate is that the 2A doesn't stand in the way of gun control.”
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The Second Amendment doesn’t stand in the way of all Gun Control, but it would stand in the way of some Gun Control. If a State tried to ban the possessions of pistols or rifles as a whole, then this would be unconstitutional.
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“The lobbying efforts of the gun nuts, and the lack of political will, are the reasons why school children and college students and we the people continue to be slaughtered by guns. But not the 2A. Gun carnage is a political -- not a legal -- problem.”
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Typical pleading to emotion. School children and college students and any others are killed by individuals. Punishing individuals who are not involved is simply wrong.
As you can see even here on a fairly liberal message board, the sentiment toward Gun Control is not favorable. When people see their liberty usurped by this administration, it reminds them of one of the compelling reasons why the Second Amendment was added to the Bill of Rights.
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It's a question of enforcement
[Read the article: Repeal the Second Amendment]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Xanthro, I remembered something more....
Earlier you used as an example that the government could not force the Jews from the country because that would be unconstitutional....As I recall, the U.S. set up interrment camps and went around the country taking Japanese-Americans and Japanese Nationals and placing them in these camps due to a paranoia that these people would pose a threat to the security of the nation.
That was decades before the "Patriot-Act".
-- afreepress
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That was unconstitutional, though the Courts ruled that it was. It's a case of prejudice and fear overwhelming legal reasoning. It's not the first time it's happened in our history and unfortunately, it wasn't the last.
When an overwhelming percentage of the populace support an action, even if that action is unconstitutional and wrong, keeping the action from happening can be difficult.