"Our analysis is limited to determining whether the Amendment secures an individual, collective, or quasi-collective right. We do not consider the substance of that right, including its contours or the nature or type of governmental interests that would justify restrictions on its exercise, and nothing in this memorandum is intended to address or call into question the constitutionality, under the Second Amendment, of any particular limitations on owning, carrying, or using firearms."
The analysis of the last four words - shall not be infringed - are conspicuous by their absence. The last four words have not been addressed by any court over the last 100 years, including the excellent analysis done in the 5th Circuit Emerson case. These last words are the most powerful in the entire Bill of Rights; they suppose (and impose) the heavy burden of proof upon the government to show cause why anyone's RKBA should be restricted.
You gotta admit, it would have been somewhat awkward to have the Justice department acknowledging "shall not be infringed" means "shall not be infringed" at the same time the President was saying he would sign a bill extending the most significant federal infringement since the 1930s (other than the 1986 FOPA's last minute ban on newly manufactured machine guns for civilians perhaps)
They ARE the most powerful and they DENY the government
the ability to show cause why anyone's RKBA should be restricted.
2 entries found for infringed. in·fringe ( P ) Pronunciation Key (n-frnj) v. in·fringed, in·fring·ing, in·fring·es v. tr. To transgress or exceed the limits of; violate: infringe a contract; infringe a patent. Obsolete. To defeat; invalidate. v. intr. To encroach on someone or something; engage in trespassing: an increased workload that infringed on his personal life. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Latin nfringere, to destroy : in-, intensive pref.; see in-2 + frangere, to break; see bhreg- in Indo-European Roots.] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- in·fringer n. [Download or Buy Now] Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Main Entry: in·fringe Pronunciation: in-'frinj Function: verb Inflected Forms: in·fringed; in·fring·ing Etymology: Medieval Latin infringere, from Latin, to break, crush, from in- in + frangere to break transitive verb : to encroach upon in a way that violates law or the rights of another ;
"These last words are the most powerful in the entire Bill of Rights; they suppose (and impose) the heavy burden of proof upon the government to show cause why anyone's RKBA should be restricted."
Exactly. Imagine if you had to register and pay a fee to exercise your 1st Ammendment rights.
Well, if nutcases, serial killers, and foreign agents present in the US have the 'uninfringeable right' to own weapons, then that causes a problem.
The resolution is likely in language which defines "citizen" of the US.