Gun Control: Just the Facts, Part 1- The Constitutional Issues

[Draggingtree]

RedState:

Gun Control: Just the Facts, Part 1- The Constitutional Issues

 

By: davenj1 (Diary) | April 10th, 2013 at 11:13 PM |

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary for a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” These 14 simple words in the Bill of Rights have not been a controversy for the better part of our history. It is perhaps only over the last four decades that this constitutional right has become controversial and the subject of legal actions. The mere fact that this was enshrined in the Constitution after the fundamental liberties of free speech, a free press, the right of assembly and redress of complaints against the government, and the freedom to freely worship underscores its importance to those who proposed and enacted the Bill of Rights. As most are aware, many states were hesitant to ratify the Constitution without a Bill of Rights. In order to gain ratification, a gentleman’s agreement was reached that the first Congress would take up the issue. Even then, there was reluctance since enumerating certain rights led some to believe that only those enumerated would be protected while other, unstated rights would be subject to control. That is the basis for the all-encompassing Ninth and Tenth Amendments which, until recently, were almost afterthoughts. In their historical context, however, they were reassurances to the states and the people that there were other rights unenumerated that were protected.

An “all things being equal” situation or one where the effects are muddled at best fails the test. That is, when you start to curtail a fundamental constitutional right- and the right to bear arms clearly is- you better at least show that your action demonstrably serves a vital state interest beyond any doubt. In part 2, I hope to show that gun control efforts fail this baseline requirement.

[Draggingtree]

April 11, 2013

Senate cloture vote tells us one thing: the GOP as a national party is dead

As some Newtown families, props being used by the very gun grabbers who have set up the kinds of gun-free shooting galleries in which their children were slain, held hands and prayed for more than 60 votes (having been flown in at taxpayer expense to lobby our representatives to take away our natural rights), it occurred to me that, with 16 Republicans voting that a debate on amending an unalienable right is perfectly in keeping with the Constitution, the Republican party then and there died. Went tits up. Ceased to be.

 

If John McCain and Lindsay Graham and Lamar Alexander are in your party — and carry much weight in that party — you are in the wrong party.

http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=48635

[clearvision]

Vice President Joe Biden this morning said that the “cultural norm” about gun ownership has changed, arguing that many people buy guns, not for protection or hunting, but because “it’s like driving a Ferrari.”

 

“It used to be we were dealing almost exclusively with hunters,” Biden said on MSNBC. “There’s a whole new sort of group of individuals now who, I don’t know what the numbers are, that never hunt at all but they own guns for one of two reasons: self protection or they just like the feel of that AR-15 at the range.”

 

“They like the way it feels. You know, it’s like driving a Ferrari,” he said, raising his arms as if shooting a gun.

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