Posted on 05/10/2002 5:50:25 AM PDT by 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.
Exactly.
Olson specifically has said there's no need to try any of these "Second Amendment" cases coming up, especially Emerson.
Why do you suppose that would be?
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.
"More Guns, Less Crime", by John Lott gives powerful statistical proof that law-abiding citizens that own guns is the best means of personal self-defense. Being used 2,000,000 times a year for self-defense while 98% of the time just brandishing a gun is enough to fend off the criminal. As Lott says, "an armed society is a polite society."
The National Crime Victimization Report, U.S. Department of Justice shows that women who respond passively are 2.5 times more likely to be seriously injured than women who use a gun to defend themselves. Lott shows powerful evidence that it is poor minorities who live in high crime areas who benefit the most from being able to defend themselves. But you'll never hear that from the news media.
Compare that to Michael Bellesiles' book, "Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture", and the media (NY Times included) that championed the book to beat the band. But the book turned out to be total fraud.
Don't hold your breath. King George II hasn't rescinded any of the EO's that King George I and Slick Willie issued on the import of semiautos and ammunition. All he needed to do was sign a piece of paper, no congressional approval needed, but he didn't do it and he isn't going to. King George II is even against arming the pilots. In the strange world of Washington DC it is OK to shoot down an airliner, but not OK to (horrors) furnish pilots with a gun.
OUTSTANDING!!! This is the FIRST THING Bob Herbert has written that I agree with!!!!
Dear Sirs,
The language of the 2'nd ammendment is sufficiently clear. The part which speaks of the needs of a militia amounts to a motivation; the part which states that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed is the law. The law could as easily read "Due to the well-known fact that a wet bird never flies at night, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed". Scholastic questions about wet birds would still be irrelevant to the law.
All so-called gun-control laws were and are racist or classist in their motivations. The intent was and is to prevent certain groups of people deemed rowdy or ill-behaved from owning firearms. The thinking was always that the people affected would not have the wherewithal to fight such battles in courts. It was always recognized that no such law would ever survive the obvious conflict with the 2'nd ammendment in any major court test.
Similarly, most of the gun-control laws which have been passed in recent years have been motivated by a desire to prevent gang-bangers and similar urban youth groups from possessing arms and, it is in this connection, that a natural sort of a disconnect arises. The new laws are not capable of eliminating entire classes of weaponry from the market; all they do is make them more expensive. A surplus FAL rifle which would cost $150 or $200 in an open market ends up costing $500 or $700. The problem is that, between honest folk working 9-5 jobs and the street gangs which are regularly involved in $100,000 and $300,000 drug deals, it is not the honest folks who will have the easier access to the now-more-expensive semiautomatic rifles.
Just a thought...
The "so what" is that this is a cultural war that will last a long time. Overturning laws takes votes and it takes voters and it takes pro-gun voters to get the message out. The anti's have the ink by the barrel full and that's why Joe alerted us to this article. We have to start writing more letters to the editors than the anti's. 80 million gun owners should be burying the papers with pro-gun letters to the editor or we're going to lose.
FYI, Here is my letter as it currently stands:
***
Letters Editor, The Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Re: "Gun Lobby has ally in Ashcroft"
With the recent news from the DOJ restating AG John Ashcroft's position that the Second Amendment pertains to an individual, not a collective, right, I wondered how long it would be before a column would appear in your op-ed section vilifying this turn of events. I did not have to wait long, with the appearance in your May 10 edition of Bob Herbert's hit-piece, "Gun Lobby has ally in Ashcroft", coupled with the inane cartoon by Mike Luckovich.
This column serves as a textbook example of the usual fear-mongering that people have come to expect from those who fear what it means to be free -- failed theories such as police have a duty to protect every individual, that everyone who owns a gun is looking to go postal, etc.. Other falsehoods include his statements regarding the 1939 U.S. vs. Miller decision and how "28,874 Americans were killed with guns" (over half were suicides, and most of the rest were criminals killed by other criminals, as well as felons killed by police). The word "terrorism" is thrown in for good measure, although no guns were used in the 9-11 attacks.
The truth is every law-abiding American has a birthright to own firearms. Period.
It was perfectly fine with the likes of Herbert when groups like HCI and the so-called "Million Mom March" operated freely out of the White House. Now that they no longer have the bully pulpit to operate from, they have faded from view, and deservedly so, since, despite their claims to the contrary, they do not begin to reflect the views of mainstream America. That is why NRA membership currently stands at a record 4.2 million members, and is still growing. America is waking up, and voices like Mr. Herbert's find themselves more and more irrelevant.
That is not a good thing. He lives in the largest media center in the world and his pathetic little cry is heard by millions of people who don't know any better. It's his little cry that is louder than all the gunowners in the U.S..
Well, this very "federal policy" (or, more aptly put, "verbal twisting" of the Consitution) reversed the previous policy of 150 years - dating back to the times and expressed intentions of the Founding Fathers.
But, Mr. Herbert - a man who obviously fears his everyday fellow citizens more than the Totalitarians he represents - don't let the facts get in your way!
That sound you hear is the National Rifle Association cheering.
That sound you hear is the cheering of American citizens who love the actual meaning of our Constitution, not your fascist interpretation of it, Mr Stalin Herbert!
My hat is off to you, sir -- you are a man of deeds as well as words.
I urge everyone reading this thread to freely use the letters contained here to mail to your own newspapers. Copy and paste freely!
Nice office, by the way, Shooter. My own is half computer workspace and half gunsmithing/reloading area. The best of both worlds!
"Think like a man of action and act like a man of thought." -- Henri Bergson
The other side of the room has the reloading bench and the two Dillons. I wish I had the room on the walls to put all the signed posters of the gun chicks. LOL
As for "I can't understand how some people can spend a lifetime and thousands of dollars on their hobby and not lift a finger to keep it legal.", Jim Camarrano of the San Diego NRA members council referred to these people as the "Freedom Freeloaders". If the shoe fits...
Mrs Turner self defense rights were taken away.
Now here in May of 2002, it is Ronyale White of Chicago.
*IL Chicago woman waits 17 minutes for 911 police call.*
Cut and Paste URL http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/680581/posts
No Judge's restraining order will ever stop an evil man with intent to kill a spouse.
Mayor Daley should be ashamed of his disarming of the poor.
Chicago residents (especially the poor) should be asking Mayor Daley why he is violating the Second Amendment rights of the poor and handicap of their self defense rights?
No honest citizen in America should be disarmed by politicans or state govt so they can be killed by felons, and scum with evil intent.
Other women who know how Mrs. Price was lied too by the government false statements that 911 will protect you.
* Women who defend their sons daughters and husbands *
Cut and paste load to Second Amendment Sisters http://www.sas-aim.org/home.htm
Bad guys don't live by the rules. Here is Mrs. Ruth Price story and I would think that you would agree she disagrees with this leftist extremist, anti-gun views. Here is Mrs. Price story. Another disarmed voice.
Mrs. Price speaks directly to the gun control extremists.
Requires Audio setup, downloads in 30 seconds, however, well worth your wait for this message.
Cut and paste load http://www.geekswithguns.com/audio/911_call_no_address.ram
Next Picture from Mother's of the past, speaking to soccer moms of today.
cut and paste load http://www.guntruths.com/images/1ST_MMM_MARCH.gif
Have we forgotten already.
Women's talk about self defense.
The best news link on the planet for self defense.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Who needs protection? The women of our lives, and our children, the poor who have little police protection, our grandparents, and parents, our wife, and our daughters need the right to self-defense at home and on the street. 2.2 million felons in jail, 3.5 million felons on probation, and 14 million drug abusers looking for their next fix. Do you think they are living in your city? Guns save lives. Gun free zones are killing zones for criminals. Most anti gun liberals are one mugging away from conservative views.
Dail 911 and die is more than a cute saying. It is life or death.
The actual 911 call is Mrs Price voice. Take this recording to every MMM and anti gun rally in the nation. Perhaps the MMM anti guns will be the next Mrs Price.
Another Mrs Price story in Columbus OHIO -- Dialed 911 and Died.
Mrs. Turner's story. Restraining orders, Killer telling police he was going to kill her, begging for life for several minutes, nor did phone call to 911 save this woman's life.
Cut and paste load http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b28997102ad.htm
What is your self defense plan when the bad guy shows up at your door?
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
