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Second Amendment Case Moves Forward in Northern Mariana Islands
Gun Watch ^ | 2 December, 2014 | Dean Weingarten

Posted on 12/05/2014 1:57:34 AM PST by marktwain




The defendant in the second amendment case in the Northern Mariana Islands anticipates that the law will be ruled unconstitutional.  From mvariety.com:
District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona will preside over a hearing for the motion for summary judgment on March 5, 2015.

Anticipating an unfavorable ruling from the federal court, Deleon Guerrero and Zarones have asked the Legislature to act “swiftly without hesitation” in passing an alternative gun control law.
The Northern Mariana Islands (NMI) have one of the most restrictive gun control laws of any jurisdiction in the territories of the United States.  Only the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa have laws that might be considered as strict. 

The NMI has not had a problem with guns being used in crime, even when guns were completely unregulated, before 1972.   The gun ban was purely "precautionary" based on the unfounded theory that guns cause crime.    The notion was popular at the time; the 1968 federal gun control act had been passed four years earlier.   Many liberal academics had held that the second amendment of the constitution did not apply to individuals; a theory first put forward by the Kansas Supreme Court in 1905, and dismissed by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Heller decision 103 years later in 2008.

The desire to keep restrictive gun laws in the NMI seems outdated, the theories that it was based on have been discredited.

But legislatures have passed numerous laws based on outdated theories, simply on the premise that passing laws demonstrates that they are "doing something", or on paternalistic attitudes that people are incapable of acting in their own interests.  It remains to be seen if the legislature in the NMI will pass another "precautionary" law.

©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch


TOPICS: Government; History; Politics; Society
KEYWORDS: banglist; constitution; northernmariana; secondamendment
There are a couple of Federal Firearms Licenses in the Northern Mariana Islands.
1 posted on 12/05/2014 1:57:34 AM PST by marktwain
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To: marktwain

My dad remembers a day when he could rake the jungle with his .30 cal or his Thompson on Saipan.


2 posted on 12/05/2014 6:31:45 AM PST by School of Rational Thought
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To: School of Rational Thought
My friend George (Tex) Ferguson gathered intellegence behind the lines on Saipan before the invasion. I recall him telling me that he reported that the Japanese troops there were some of the biggest people he had seen. He told me that the higher ups disregarded his information. It turned out that the Island was guarded by the Emperors personal guards, who were partly chosen for their size.

I understand that it was a very tough fight.

3 posted on 12/05/2014 7:58:31 AM PST by marktwain (The old media must die for the Republic to live. Long live the new media!)
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To: marktwain

The marines really took a beating the first two weeks. They were abandoned by the Navy when they were drawn off. Then the biggest banzai charge of the war came after them. My dad wasn’t on the island until the third week. One story he told me was going into the jungle with 27 one day and only coming out with five others.

The Japanese used to really chop up the US servicemen into small bits.

My dad and pretty much everyone else thought that Mexican guy who took prisoners (and recently received the MOH) for it, was a real prick for doing it.


4 posted on 12/05/2014 2:42:31 PM PST by School of Rational Thought
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To: School of Rational Thought

To be fair, some Japanese surrendered to my Dad after much of the fighting was over and he was running supply operations. At that point, he pretty much was over all the killing.

The Japanese wanted to make sure they were not surrendering to a Marine.

He received no recognition for it and might say was punished for it.

One of the two officers attended USC.


5 posted on 12/05/2014 2:48:44 PM PST by School of Rational Thought
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To: School of Rational Thought

I am glad that you have told a small part of your father’s story here. So much of the last 75 years of heros have been forsaken and downplayed by the old media, and they are going fast.

I am still mad at how my friend, Tex, received virtually no recognition in the old media when he passed, and he was an incredible hero. Do nothing *actors* and lip syncing *singers* were considered far more newsworthy. I need to write more of his stories.

I often think that he was the role model for Matt Helm in the series of novels.


6 posted on 12/05/2014 3:08:29 PM PST by marktwain (The old media must die for the Republic to live. Long live the new media!)
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