Second Amendment - Topic 5

 

2nd Amendment, not Applicable in Special locations? - Topic 5

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.

This one should be easy but as stated before, nothing about the second amendment is easy.

What I have read with only minimal research (Google research so it must be true!) is that state and federal legislation on this is all over the map - literally. That goes for almost everything about the 2nd Amendment.

So here are some places where I would suggest guns should be prohibited. When reading them ask yourselves "Would the authors of the Second have any reason to disagree with these?" Federal laws are consistent with many of them. In many locations State laws are not:

• government buildings. (Some states restrict carrying in some state buildings but not others)
• courthouses
• schools
• hospitals
• airports and planes (other than security forces)
• bars or any other places where people and their emotions are liable to be under the influence of a substance like alcohol or drugs including sporting events
• any private business or property where the owner decides to disallow guns. This latitude is constantly under attack
• banks
• police stations
• churches
• parks
• public transit
• nudist colonies (just kidding to see if you got this far)

Even where these apply there are differences regarding concealed or open carry restrictions. What difference does this make? Is the thinking that if you can carry an open weapon the other guy/girl has a better chance of reaching theirs if they see you reaching for yours? Sound like Dodge City? 

My take on this is something that applies to all of these locations. Turn it around and ask why does anyone require a gun in any of these locations? The answer for the gun owners/lovers will always be for protection - against some other person.

If fear of the other person is the big issue, then I have two suggestions, expensive as they might be.1) Such locations all have securely locked entrances. 2) An armed guard searches/scans for weapons outside that entrance with mandatory temporary surrender of weapons until the owners leave. The weapons would be locked up and only the guard could unlock them.

One more idea would be to work towards standardizing all of these locations and restrictions across federal and state jurisdictions. Then at least everyone would have to abide by one set of rules.

This leaves one more topic - 6 - before summarizing the entire subject and possibly making suggestions.

#thebrewsterblock

Second Amendment - Topic 4

 

 2nd Amendment, Case for Gun Rights Denial - Topic 4

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.

Today's topic is another heated one. Are there certain groups of people who should be denied firearms under any circumstances?

Mature adults have to include at least one - children. Surely the authors of the amendment would have assumed this one. As mentioned days ago the question then becomes at what age? If there are minimum ages for drinking or driving does it not make sense to use the same age here? Nixon signed an extension to a bill to require voters to be at least 18. Should you own deadly weapons before you can even vote?

If you agree that children - whose brains, powers of reason, emotions etc. are not yet developed but will, why allow the mentally handicapped to have guns when their same traits won't develop?

That leaves criminals. How can anyone think that a person who has already used a gun illegally, won't do it again? Using the same analogy as above, if repeat offenders can lose their right to drive, why not the right to shoot? In my opinion a person found to break the law while using a gun should not only forfeit all their guns they should suffer severe consequences if they are found to acquire new ones. The seller should be included.

Here is one approach that is simple. Nobody outside of police, conventional military personnel including guardsmen federal and state, and possibly private but licensed security companies and bodyguards should be allowed to carry firearms - NOBODY. Now we all know the immediate reaction will be that the bad guys will still carry. How do other countries control that? I can only suggest severe penalties for those who carry illegally; even worse for those who supply them; and spot checks - LOTS of them - by police or other designated groups any time and any place to enforce a no carry law.

In times of war the military will supply the necessary firepower, not Tom, Dick, and Harriet. Those days are long gone. The British are not coming.

It isn't going to be easy. Nobody, including me, is saying that.

To be continued...

#thebrewsterblock

Second Amendment - Topic 3

 2nd Amendment, Militias - Topic 3

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.

In my post April 11, 2021 I listed what I saw as areas of discussion and controversy regarding the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Topic 3 is today's subject, the meaning of the word "Militia."

Was the use of the term "Militia" in reference to (1) the need some day to fight off a foreign attack (keeping the War of Independence in mind); (2) the right of each of the (United) states to do the same against each other; or (3) the need for state(s) to rebel against Federal government?

(1) One of the backbones of America and one of its greatest points of pride is how disparate people banded together to free themselves from British oppression. Despite the superior British experience, they lost as we all know and America was born. That was almost 250 years ago. Since then The United States of America has shown her strength to the world by uniting those very peoples whenever needed especially to go to other countries and fight with allies against common enemies. The notion of having to fight off an intruder on a moments notice with self-armed militias is not realistic today.

In fact if America were to have another internal or civil war there is a very good chance other great nations like China or Russia would take advantage while she is down to attack if they were ever going to do so. "United We Stand, Divided We Fall" is a fact of history.

Since that War of Independence the need for the ultimate armed forces has become even more important but not using whatever you have in your basement, garage, or pickup truck. Therefore it seems at least to me that state militias to defend America are an obsolete notion. Maintaining superior national armed forces is surely the best defense.

(2) and (3) If the "Militia" was to permit one state to wage actual war with another or to overthrow a central government (with a weaker militia?) then again I say in today's world America would be doomed. This could have happened on January 6, 2021. Thank God Federal and loyal state forces ("militias" if you prefer) fended off an internal attack - and that is exactly what it was.

Therefore any use of militias in any of the scenarios mentioned above would likely spell doom for the country. Is this why the amendment was created? I hardly think so.

One more observation: where in The Constitution does it say or was it ever intended that if one group or another in the world's model democracy disliked the result of an election or what any politician stood for, the unhappy party should grab some "arms" and proceed to hang or shoot those politicians? Is THAT what the amendment was for? Once again - NOT!

So ironically, this leaves the most popular argument in favor of Americans owning guns - personal protection. When your read the amendment (See 1st paragraph, above) personal protection is not even mentioned nor can I see how it is implied.

It is difficult to come up with a good analogy. Perhaps this is like forming a group of volunteer firefighters for a remote area. If they are granted the right to use a flashing light and a siren on their private vehicle it would be for the occasional need to rush to very rare fires. It would never be intended to get to your regular job on time if you were late. This would be like using firearms for personal use, not that of being a member of a militia.

#thebrewsterblock