"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."-Thomas Jefferson
The United States Supreme Court will hear opening remarks in the case of District of Columibia v. Heller tomorrow, March 18th. A Colorado University law professor, Scott Moss, believes this will be a seminal case that will finally decide whether the Second Amendment guarantee of the right to keep and bear arms applies to individuals or only to the States' right to form militias.
The case is that of a citizen of Washington, DC, Richard Heller, claiming a constitutional right to keep a weapon, specifically a hand-gun, for his personal protection. The District of Columbia has some of the most restictive laws regarding legal gun ownership of any municipality and have denied his application.
The case of the District of Columbia versus Heller not only will decide whether Washington, D.C., can keep its handgun ban, but ultimately will determine the fate of gun control laws across the country. Remarkably, this case is likely to be the first time the Supreme Court, in its over two centuries of interpreting the constitution, truly will have to decide, once and for all, whether the Second Amendment protects individual citizens’ rights to own guns or protects only states’ rights to maintain armed police forces and militias, writes Professor Moss.
All of the amendments comprising the Bill of Rights pertain to individual rights and restrain the actions of the federal government, so an interpretation of the Second Amendment as anything other than an individual right would be in contravention of the spirit of the other articles. We can only hope and pray that the current court led by Justice Roberts will adhere to a direct constructionist interpretation of what seems to be plain English to most Americans and decide on the right of individuals to keep arms for protection and to prevent government tyranny. As Thomas Jefferson said with only a bit of satire,
"The beauty of the second amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it."
2 comments:
If the Supreme Court manages to find that the Second Amendment is a right held by the government, it'll be the only one I know of (other than part of the Tenth) that isn't a right of an individual.
With our court system, who knows, but it certainly wouldn't make any sense.
Firearm ownership is not only important to self defense, but as your Jefferson quote illustrates, is important to deter government from becoming too oppressive (or to tame it when it does).
Exactly, Bob. Isn't it annoying and telling that many liberals assume the Second Amendment is about the right to own firearms for sporting purposes.
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