More Guns for Everyone!

Pravda West (aka the NY Times) ^ | 5/9/2002 | Bob Herbert

[Joe Brower]

More Guns for Everyone!
By BOB HERBERT
May 9, 2002

Let's see. What America needs is more guns in the hands of more people, right?

That would almost certainly be the result of a new and potentially tragic initiative by John Ashcroft's Justice Department. In a reversal of federal policy that has stood for more than 60 years, the department told the Supreme Court this week that individual Americans have a constitutional right to own guns.

That sound you hear is the National Rifle Association cheering.

The N.R.A. has seldom had a better friend in government than Mr. Ashcroft. That was proved again on Monday when the Justice Department, in a pair of briefs filed with the court, rejected the long-held view of the court, the Justice Department itself and most legal scholars that the Second Amendment protects only the right of state-organized militias to own firearms. Under that interpretation, anchored by a Supreme Court ruling in 1939, Congress and local governmental authorities have great freedom to regulate the possession and use of firearms by individuals.

In the briefs, submitted by Solicitor General Theodore Olson, the department boldly and gratuitously asserted, "The current position of the United States, however, is that the Second Amendment more broadly protects the right of individuals, including persons who are not members of any militia or engaged in active military 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 misuse."

The move was gratuitous because there was no need for the government to take a position on the Second Amendment in the two cases for which the briefs were submitted. In both cases the Justice Department is defending gun laws. In one case it agrees that a man under a restraining order because of domestic violence should not be allowed to have a gun, and in the other it is opposing the appeal of a man convicted of illegally possessing machine guns.

The reference in the briefs to restrictions on "firearms that are particularly suited to criminal misuse" is interesting, and disingenuous. No gun is more suited to criminal misuse than a handgun, and that's exactly the type of weapon that Mr. Ashcroft and his N.R.A. pals are trying to make available to more and more American men and women.

I had a .45-caliber pistol hanging low on my hip many years ago when I was in the Army. And I can tell you, I'm not anxious to think about that kind of weapon (or something smaller and easier to conceal) being in the pockets and the purses and the briefcases and the shoulder holsters of the throngs surrounding me in my daily rounds in Manhattan.

How weird is it that in this post-Sept.-11 atmosphere, when the Justice Department itself is in the forefront of the effort to narrow potential threats to security, the attorney general decides it would be a good idea to throw open the doors to a wholesale increase in gun ownership?

Mr. Ashcroft telegraphed this transparently political move nearly a year ago in a letter to the N.R.A, which just happened to have been a major Ashcroft campaign contributor. The letter went from Mr. Ashcroft, who was already the attorney general, to the N.R.A.'s chief lobbyist, James J. Baker. Mr. Ashcroft wrote, "Let me state unequivocally my view that the text and the original intent of the Second Amendment clearly protect the right of individuals to keep and bear firearms. While some have argued that the Second Amendment guarantees only a `collective right' of the states to maintain militias, I believe the amendment's plain meaning and original intent prove otherwise."

Now that view is the policy of the Bush administration. It will encourage aficionados and accused criminals to challenge gun control laws on constitutional grounds.

"Now defendants are going to try to make this Second Amendment argument, relying in part on Ashcroft's position," said Mathew Nosanchuk, the litigation director for the Violence Policy Center, a Washington group that advocates gun control.

The center has pointed out that in 1999, the most recent year for which statistics are available, 28,874 Americans were killed with guns.

Neither Mr. Ashcroft nor the N.R.A. seems particularly concerned.

[SW6906]

28,874 computes out to about 79 people per day.

When you remove all of the ones that were deaths of a criminal in the commission of a crime and deal only with innocent victims of crime, the number becomes quite small. Then, when you look into whether or not any gun control laws were broken by the person using that gun to kill someone, you find that virtually none of those deaths involved someone doing absolutely nothing against the law until they picked up an evil gun and killed an innocent person......

[Cyber Liberty]

"What America needs is more guns in the hands of more people, right?"

The Old Grey Lady swerves into the truth....

[SW6906]

"no court, even the supreme court, can change the Constitution with a ruling"

Huh? Maybe they can't change the actual wording of the Constitution, but they can certainly rule on it's meaning, effectively rewriting it or finding things in it that don't exist. See: Roe vs. Wade, "separation of church and state" and many more examples.

[Woahhs]

Apparently blatant intellectual dishonesty is okay with the author as long as it serves the "correct" adgenda. I'm suppose to respect a sixty year old "flim-flam" but not the much older principle it was designed to circumvent? Anyone who doesn't know Ashcroft's interpretation is the correct one is not mentally fit to render a decision in the first place.

It seems cultural muggers act pretty much like any other kind of mugger. They actually have the gall to get pissed off when someone resists; it makes their life more difficult. Well too effing bad!

[Sender]

This reporter is an incredible d*ckhead! What an idiot!!! Good thing he lives in the BLUE ZONE with the other d*ckheads.

[ladtx]

Then, when you look into whether or not any gun control laws were broken by the person using that gun to kill someone, you find that virtually none of those deaths involved someone doing absolutely nothing against the law until they picked up an evil gun and killed an innocent person......

True. Also, if any citizen with a concealed weapon had killed another citizen or even a criminal, and had broken one of the 20,000 laws on the books I'm sure it would be plastered all over the media in an effort to demonize all pro-gunners. The lack of such a story reinforces the fact that it doesn't happen.

[SevenDaysInMay]

It is dangerous to central planners when our Constitution is acknowledged to mean what it says. The 14th Amendment's nexus to the 2nd Article of our Bill of Rights will be tested in court or the streets. America's fascist movement in the Democrat and Republican Parties has a problem, or some 200,000,000 problems. Without the police powers of the State, these fascists are helpless.

[SauronOfMordor]

Here's the funniest thing: a few years back, a list of CCW holders in NYC was published. In NYC you pretty-much have to be "connected" to the political establishment to get a permit to OWN an handgun, much less carry one. One of the few "carry" permits issued was to ... (wait for it) ... the publisher of the NY Times

[cruiserman]

I'm not anxious to think about that kind of weapon (or something smaller and easier to conceal) being in the pockets and the purses and the briefcases and the shoulder holsters of the throngs surrounding me in my daily rounds in Manhattan.

Strangely enough I feel more secure knowing that law-abiding citizens are carrying firearms on their persons. I wish more people did so.

[GnL]

After you do that, then you remove all the suicides from that number (about 15,000 or so), and you are left with an even smaller number. To group suicides along with homicides in this statistic is disingenuous. One only has to look at Japan, where the suicide rate is much higher than in the U.S. and gun ownership is much lower, to know that suicides are not dependent on gun availability.

Removing all the suicides and legitimate defensive uses, we are left with around 9,000 or 10,000. Then consider how many of those are felons killing other felons while arguing over a turf dispute or drug deal, and well...

[Dick Bachert]

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[MrB]

28,874 Americans were killed with guns

Would it have made the author feel any better if these people "were pushed outa windas"?

[Steve0113]

The Old Grey Lady swerves into the truth....

...but quickly recovers and races the other way.

[ricer1]

Alan Keyes had Larry Pratt on his show earlier this week talking about the 2nd Amendment and John Ashcroft. Go here for the transcript.

[Balding_Eagle]

Your meaning is unclear. Are you saying that Ashcroft is trying to pre-empt the Emerson case, and stop it from making its way to SCOTUS? If so, you have company here at FR. Many are extremely skeptical of Bush & Co, and I think it transfers into thinking that this announcement is nothing more than a set-up to prevent a clear, and decisive decision from SCOTUS.

I'm am of the opinion that this move by the administration is calculated to have just the opposite effect. I think it's meant to grease the skids a bit, to make sure that everyone understands the thinking and legal position of The Bush Administration on the Second Amendment. Furthermore I believe it's meant to encourage everyone to get this in front of the justices now so that we can have resolution. After all, this MAY BE the most Constitution-abiding Supreme Court we will have for years to come. Politics can surprise everyone. We may not get more Clarence Thomases.

IMO this is probably one of the most important issues to be resolved in my lifetime, and I'm excited to see it move forward.

[Joe Brower]

Well, my thanks to one and all for your input. You certainly filled up the ammo box in a hurry!

[Joe Brower]

Your comments are worthy of consideration. I don't pretend to be well-versed enough in politics to know what the true intentions of this turn of events are, and how it will eventually turn out.

The only thing I know for sure is that we will certainly find out in time. Meanwhile, we must remain "ever vigilant", as the saying goes...

[Cable225]

Let's see. What America needs is more guns in the hands of more people, right?

If only he had stopped right there, he'd be in business.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Go, Girl !
I probably have more guns than I need but not as many as I want.