In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
Does the 2nd amendment protect you.........
RTKBA
Member Posts: 331 ✭✭✭
from state laws? I am not so sure that it does.
Comments
"Never do wrong to make a friend----or to keep one".....Robert E. Lee
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
Our founding Fathers were so afraid {and rightly so} of big federal power, that they set in place safe guards against it.
The founders are spinning in their graves today......[V]
from state laws? I am not so sure that it does.
The First Amendment specifically limits only Congress. The Second Amendment specifically guarentees a right to 'the people'.
The argument has been made (successfully) that absent incorporation through the 14th Amendment, that the Bill of Rights only restricted the Federal Government. Obviously Amendments 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 apply to and were targeted towards State and Local Governments, and there is no reason for, IMO, the historic misconception regarding the 2nd.
The point, however, is moot now following McDonald, which formally incorporated the 2nd Amendment against the individual States via the due process clause of the 14th Amendment.
In direct answer to your question, yes, the 2nd Amendment protects an individual citizen from State Laws that are deemed unconstitutional. We must remember, however, that the McDonald decision codified governmental powers of licensing of individuals, registration of firearms, and regulations at to what type of firearms are to be made available.
So the very real answer to your question is yes, it protects you, but it has been gutted, and retains very little power to protect you from whims of your legislators.
Brad Steele
Back in 1965, prior to the Feds saying the 4th Amendment applied to the states too, prior to saying the 5th, 6th and 8th Amendments applied - the states all but ignored them.
There are some very famous case histories on why the Federal courts finally came out and clearly held that the state officers could NOT get away with what was considered a violation at the Federal police (FBI) level. Until that time, they did.
So why doesn't the 2nd Amendment trump ANY state law (say NYC or California as a whole)? It's because it's never been taken to the Federal Supreme Court and argued. In fact, SCOTUS has successfully avoided stepping on that landmine for some reason.
Until they do, you can bet scum like Cuomo and Blooming-idiot are going to make all the laws they can in their little corner of the world and then expect us to kow-tow to them.
Just a simple example explanation, not a full-fledged lesson plan.[:p]
COB
In the preamble to the U.S BOR in plainly states, "a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution expressed a desire in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution."
Wouldn't this mean that the BOR was meant to further restrict the federal government and not the states?
Properly understood, the bill of rights is a bill of prohibitions placed on the federal government.
Many say that the 14th amendment binds the bill of rights to the states- this is a most recent "theory", and in theory and practice, an absolutely incorrect theory.
What the 14th amendment does is abolish the bill of rights (and the rest of the constitution)and places in the hands of the federal government the authority to decide what rights we can have, and what rights we can not have. And you can bet the farm that the government has no interest in extending a right to bear arms to the citizens.
THe sad reality is that the 14th amendment com[letely erased the constitution of the founders. It placed in the hands of the federal government the authority to do whatever it wishes, anything in the dead constitution prohibiting it notwithstanding.
So NO the constitution does not protect yo from the states, from the feds- not from any government entity that is intent on removing gun rights.
There are a number of parts to your question. Think back to when they tried to do city bans on guns. Then Mayor Feinstein and San Francisco failed due to the California State Constitution being written like the U.S. Constitution. However, the one in Chicago (Morton Grove) was seen as valid because Illinois didn't have a 2nd Amendment that was like the U.S. Constitution.
My previous comment was an attempt to illustrate that the Federal 2nd Amendment has not been viewed as applying to all 50 states. If it had, then we'd probably have a system of reciprocity for concealed permits which are now a state controlled issue ironically.
If you want to go over this at length, I'd be happy to go through it with you via phone some evening when you have time.
COB
RTKBA,
There are a number of parts to your question. Think back to when they tried to do city bans on guns. Then Mayor Feinstein and San Francisco failed due to the California State Constitution being written like the U.S. Constitution. However, the one in Chicago (Morton Grove) was seen as valid because Illinois didn't have a 2nd Amendment that was like the U.S. Constitution.
My previous comment was an attempt to illustrate that the Federal 2nd Amendment has not been viewed as applying to all 50 states. If it had, then we'd probably have a system of reciprocity for concealed permits which are now a state controlled issue ironically.
If you want to go over this at length, I'd be happy to go through it with you via phone some evening when you have time.
COB
Thanks COB, I appreciate the offer but I prefer to have debates on the forum so others can read them.