[neverdem]

http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/secondamendment2.htm

[Beckwith]

Way to go, JOhn.

[orionblamblam]

bump...

[Military family member]

The Second Ammendment gives John Kerry the right to shoot geese

[Feckless]

remains open and unsettled in the courts and among scholars

But not among patriots...

[beaureguard]

ping for bang list

[HMFIC]

Roll up the report and shove it up the Brady bunch of boneheads posterior breathing hole!!!!

[ZULU]

"Although scholars long have noted the ambiguity of the 27-word amendment, courts generally have interpreted the right to "keep and bear arms" as applying not to individuals but rather to the "well-regulated militia" maintained by each state."

It as ambiguous as the meaning of the word "is".

And I don't believe the Courts have been unanimous in referring to this as a collective right and I believe that just recently a Federal Court Decision recognized it as an individual right.

The Constitution is quite clear when referring to individual rights, states' rights and the Federal Government's rights and the Second Amendment was clearly intended to be an individual right.


This is the fruit of "loose construction", giving a bunch of black-robed attorneys who are also political hacks the right to distort the obvious intent of the Founding Fathers.

I hope Bush and his attorneys and Ashcroft stick this through to the bitter end.

[gridlock]

This is a great example of the Constitution being perfectly clear but the courts wanting to have it their way. It could not be more obvious that the right applies to individuals, but unrestricted gun ownership is simply unacceptable to the modern ruling class (as it was to the English ruling class before them...)

[SilentServiceCPOWife]

...the Second Amendment grants individuals nearly unrestricted access to firearms.

There are no conditions for firearms ownership mentioned in the Second Amendment so I don't understand why the phrase "nearly unrestricted" was used in this statement.

[satchmodog9]

bump

[CrawDaddyCA]

the Bush administration has issued a 109-page memorandum aiming to prove that the Second Amendment grants individuals nearly unrestricted access to firearms.

Good, now that that's clear, how about eliminating the thousands of illegal gun laws? I have to say that I'm impressed that a politician will finally attempt to address this issue.

[Triple]

Once someone reads the preamble to The BOR, that person can never again hold the 'collective right' position.

PS the constitution dosen't grant any rights, it just recognizes them.

[Paul C. Jesup]

Readying for a constitutional showdown over gun control, the Bush administration has issued a 109-page memorandum aiming to prove that the Second Amendment grants individuals nearly unrestricted access to firearms.

Let see, not only is Bush going after terrorism, the IRS, Social Security, tort reform. And he is also going about gun-control laws.

This makes me so happy I voted for him.

[MD_Willington_1976]

the Second Amendment grants individuals nearly unrestricted access to firearms

Maybe something's going to happen that they aren't telling us about...The reason may be because we'll need unrestricted access to those weapons to survive...

[G32]

God bless this administration.

[rellimpank]

---I hope no one out there is silly enough to trust the present Supreme Court on the Second Amendment after what they did to the First over McCain-Feingold---

[March I up]

Welcome news indeed.

I wonder what else lurks on the second term W agenda...

BTTT

[BCR #226]

ping

[Atlas Sneezed]

WSJ: "the Bush administration has issued a 109-page memorandum aiming to prove that the Second Amendment grants individuals nearly unrestricted access to firearms."

---

It says nothing of the kind. It says there is an individual right, but it says nothing contrary to the multitude of onerous restrictions on access to firearms presently endured by the people.

[Question_Assumptions]

All I think you really need to do is get people to read the early drafts of the Bill of Rights. Phrases like the militia clause where common in many of the other items (including free speech) but were dropped in most other cases because they weren't really necessary. Basically, that clause is meant to justify the claim to that right, not to qualify it.

You can find a good collection of early versions here.