America: It's Our Right to Bear Arms

ABCNews.com ^ | May 14, 2002 | Daniel Merkle

[Reagan is King]

ABCNEWS.com Poll Finds Most Support Individuals' Right to Own Guns

Americans overwhelmingly agree with the Justice Department's new position that the Second Amendment guarantees the right of citizens to own guns. But most also favor some restrictions on that right

After hearing the Second Amendment verbatim, 73 percent in an ABCNEWS.com poll said it guarantees the right to individual gun ownership. Twenty percent said, instead, that it only guarantees the right of states to maintain militias — the government's longstanding position until the Justice Department reversed it in a U.S. Supreme Court brief last week.

Full story and charts here

[Reagan is King]

I'll bet the ABC writer had a stroke having to write that headline.

This poll is from last month but I searched under several terms and couldn't find this already posted. It looks like the anti-gun lobby is continuing to lose ground.

[Vidalia]

WE don't need no stinkin' charts to tell us, the folks who were taught right how to handle and shoot straight, obeying the laws of the city, the county, the state, and the Constitution, a damn thaing.

I'll just bet ya that nobody up there in that beltway, 'ceptin' a varried few, even know what the hell the difference between a .22 Cal and a 20 oz. lead pipe upside the head be.

I'd be a bettin' man that if most of those California yowlpers concerning anything 'bout guns would probably think that .22 Cal was an ex-con, and the 22 was a serial number from the Fibbies, or sombody from the penal system who had escaped 22 times. I even heardt that one of these so called smart women couldn't differentiate the verbiage about a remark 'bout her "hubby" and the hubcaps on her car.

Rather distressing, aint' it?

[Balding_Eagle]

America: It's Our
Right to Bear Arms

ABCNEWS.com Poll Finds Most
Support Individuals' Right to Own Guns

Analysis
By Daniel Merkle

May 14 — Americans overwhelmingly agree with the Justice Department's new position that the Second Amendment guarantees the right of citizens to own guns. But most also favor some restrictions on that right.

After hearing the Second Amendment verbatim, 73 percent in an ABCNEWS.com poll said it guarantees the right to individual gun ownership. Twenty percent said, instead, that it only guarantees the right of states to maintain militias — the government's longstanding position until the Justice Department reversed it in a U.S. Supreme Court brief last week.

Sampling, data collection and tabulation for this poll were done by TNS Intersearch.

Most do support some restrictions on this right, with 57 percent of Americans favoring "stricter gun control laws." That's about the same as it was last year, but 10 points below its peak. And "strong" support for gun control, at 39 percent, is down seven points since last year, to its lowest in 10 years. (The government's new position, likewise, says gun ownership should be "subject to reasonable restrictions.")

Previous polling by ABCNEWS has found that larger majorities support specific measures such as background checks at gun shows, mandatory trigger locks, handgun registration, banning assault weapons and licensing handgun owners. But nearly six in 10 have opposed a nationwide ban on the sale of handguns, except to law enforcement officers.

Gun control hasn't ranked as a top-tier issue. Few think new laws would substantially reduce violent crime, or would be more effective than better enforcement of current laws.

Stricter Gun Control Laws
Date of Poll	Favor	Favor "Strongly"
May 12, 2002	57%	39
Jan. 15, 2001	59	46
May 10, 2000	67	50

Tighter Controls Favored

Support for stricter gun control rises to just under seven in 10 women, Democrats, nonwhites, and Northeasterners. It even reaches a slim majority, 51 percent, of those who say the Second Amendment guarantees gun ownership.

Large majorities in all demographic groups agree with the Justice Department's new view on gun rights, peaking among men, whites, Republicans and residents of the South and Midwest. Even 65 percent of those who support tougher gun laws agree, as do 66 percent of women and Democrats.

The government's new position states that the Second Amendment "more broadly protects the rights of individuals, including persons who are not members of any militia or engage in active service or training, to possess and bear their own firearms, subject to reasonable restrictions designed to prevent possession by unfit persons or to restrict the possession of types of firearms that are particularly suited to criminal use."

The amendment itself states: "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."

Gun Rights and Gun Control
	Constitution grants right to guns	Favor stricter gun control
All	73%	57
Men	80	44
Women	66	69
Age 18-34	68	62
Age 65+	69	51
Whites	76	56
Non-whites	63	68
Democrats	66	69
Independents	75	64
Republicans	82	42
Northwest	65	68
Midwest	77	54
South	77	56
West	68	54

Methodology

This ABCNEWS.com survey was conducted by telephone May 8-12, among a random national sample of 1,028 adults. The results have a three-point error margin. Sampling, data collection and tabulation was conducted by TNS Intersearch of Horsham, Pa.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

.

[MissAmericanPie]

Not only does the Bill of Rights stand on the side of gun ownership, but so does the history of the "Common Law" of the land.

Common Law is very strong, a history of a commonly held belief by citizens of a society, who have held through their history a common thought on the legality of a matter.

This is the best way I can define it without a dictionary.

[MosesKnows]

The amendment itself states: "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."

Is that what was ratified as Article II of the Amendments to the Constitution?

The Second Amendment to the Constitution was ratified with but a single coma and appeared thusly; "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."

It is important when referencing the Second Amendment to use it in its clear and flawless original form. The gratuitous addition of commas serves only to render the sentence grammatically incorrect and unnecessarily ambiguous.

[The Raven]

Why aren't the libs regulating homicide bombers in the Middle East?

[RogueIsland]

The gratuitous addition of commas serves only to render the sentence grammatically incorrect and unnecessarily ambiguous.

I think "being necessary to the security of a free state" is parenthetical either way, so the meaning should be no different.

[MosesKnows]

I think "being necessary to the security of a free state" is parenthetical either way

For the most part, I agree.

Consider the following:

A well regulated Internet being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear Modems shall not be infringed.
Or
A well regulated universe being necessary for the sun to rise each morning, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Or
A well regulated carpenter being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear hammers shall not be infringed.

The Second Amendment clearly indicates that in order for a State to be able to raise a militia the government must not interfere with the individual citizen’s inherent right to gun ownership. Which State supports the notion of raising a well-regulated militia made up of their unarmed citizens? Remember, a single armed individual can be a militia

[LibTeeth]

I always thought this phrasing of the freedom of the press part of the 1st amendment in terms of the 2nd is a good analogy for gun phobes to chew on:

A well-informed electorate being necessary to the continuance of a free state, the right of the people to keep and disseminate literature shall not be infringed.

Naturally this means only the electoral college can vote, and it doesn't protect semi-automatic printing presses, radio and TV or the Internet ;-)