Posted on 10/16/2001 9:01:58 AM PDT by Kevin Curry
An Open Letter to the NRA
March 27, 2000
Mr. Charlton Heston
President
National Rifle Association of America
11250 Waples Mill Rd.
Fairfax, Virginia 22030
Dear Mr. Heston,
We are law professors and historians who have a deep interest in the Second Amendment and its implications for the regulation of guns and of gun ownership. Our politics run the gamut. But we are united on the vital importance of putting to rest any misperception that the Second Amendment prohibits a wide range of effective and reasonable firearms regulations.
There is room for debate about which firearms policies will best serve Americans. But the law is well-settled that the Second Amendment permits broad and intensive regulation of firearms, including laws that ban certain types of weapons, require safety devices on others, mandate registration and licensing and otherwise impose strict regulatory oversight of the firearms industry. These and similar regulations are fully consistent with the Second Amendment.
The Second Amendment quoted in full states that 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. The United States Supreme Court and every federal appellate court to consider the issue have held that the Second Amendment permits a wide range of reasonable gun control laws. And although academic views differ regarding whether the Second Amendment does more than protect the state militia from being disarmed by federal law, we all agree that the Amendment plainly permits reasonable firearms regulations including those set forth above.
The National Rifle Association’s repeated suggestions that the Second Amendment somehow stands in the way of effective and reasonable regulation of guns and gun ownership is a distortion of legal precedent and a disservice to all Americans, the great majority of whom support thoughtful firearms policies. The issue at hand transcends the liberal/conservative divide: prominent conservatives like the late Chief Justice Warren Burger and the late Solicitor General Erwin Griswold allied themselves against the NRA’s overbroad reading of the Second Amendment. Moreover, as this letter makes clear, it is false and misleading for the NRA to cite any of us or our scholarship as authority for the notion that the Second Amendment prohibits reasonable regulation of the manufacture, transfer, ownership and possession of guns.
We encourage you and your supporters to focus on the real issue facing our country and it isn’t the Second Amendment. The central issue on which we all should focus is what sort of firearms legislation and policies will best prevent the killings and violence that plague our country today.
Sincerely,
(see attached list of endorsers)
cc: Wayne LaPierre, NRA Executive Vice-President
Academic Endorsers of the Letter to Charlton Heston Regarding the Second Amendment:
1. Akhil Reed Amar Southmayd Professor of Law Yale Law School On leave of absence, spring term, 2000.
2. Edward Ayers Hugh P. Kelly Professor of History University of Virginia
3. Michael Bellesiles Professor of History Emory University
4. Carl T. Bogus Professor of Law Roger Williams University Law School
et al
If Warren Burger is his idea of a "conservative", what's his idea of a "liberal"? Stalin?
Oh, is that right? Then I guess Mr. Bogus & Co. will agree that the 2nd does not mention anything at all about the regulation of guns or gun ownership?
Actually, they would probably insist if only one person in the united states could own a gun, then our rights would still not be infringed, because the 2nd does not progibit regulations(in their minds).
Its utterly amazing that anyone would align themselves with Bellisiles. Its not like he was found to be a fraud by some lowly internet website, its public knowledge around all academic circles, not to mention gun enthusiasts.
Governing kings had a solution for that. THey let the barbarians in to teach a lesson to the Serfs (servants). This is what is happening.
But how can we expect a bunch of leftist professors who believe Clinton is great to figure out the essence of the 2nd Amendment? It is impossible. The only resort then is confrontation if they bring it on. However it seems like those fools' political territory has been left so open that now it is being competed for by muslim terrorists too.
Let us never forget that we should never shy from counter balancing the powers that aim to reduce our duties, and not mere rights, to counter balance powers. The militia should be alive and peacefuly competing with the Federal government for power. It is the only way, as the reverse will either yield to Federal abuse of powers, or to a sclerosis of welfare mentality of a people overly dependent on police and government to be fed and protected.
Once again, lawyers try to explain that daylight isn't really light and the sun doesn't rise in the east, and that restrictions such as licensing and registration aren't really infringements.
This proves yet again the veracity of the statement made by Orwell that some opinions were so stupid that only an intellectual could believe them.
Academics for the Second Amendment
Professor Joseph E. Olson, President
P.O. Box 131254
St. Paul, MN 55113
Academics for the Second Amendment (A2A) is a tax-exempt educational organization dedicated to giving the "right to keep and bear arms" its proper, prominent place in Constitutional discourse and analysis. A2A was formed by a number of present and former Law School teachers, historians, political scientists, and philosophers of government who decided it was time to take a stand in support of the Bill of Rights, including an individual right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed in the Second Amendment.
Academics for the Second Amendment is open to academics and non-academics alike.
A small point, and I don't mean to be quarrelsome, but I think the term "well-regulated" refers more to the training of miitia members than it does to the condition of their weapons. But of course, no well-trained militia member would keep his firearm in such a condition as to render it insufficient for militia service.
* ...putting to rest any misperception that the Second Amendment prohibits a wide range of effective and reasonable firearms regulations.* ...ending western culture by endorsing multiculturalism and globalism.
* ...advancing communism.
* ...spreading panic by simultaneously warning of global warming and a coming ice age.
* ...a regressive tax scheme to transfer wealth from those who produce to those who do not.
* ...limiting speech to only those leftist causes which we deem appropriate.
* ...controlling the minds of the next generation by undermining the parent/child bond and promoting government directed indoctrination.
* ...achieving peace through capitulation to terrorists and rogue nations.
* ...judging guilt or innocence on the grounds of the accused perpetrators political agenda.
* ...rendering the environment uninhabitable by declaring it off limits to human use.
* ...saving the lives of death row murderers while exterminating as many innocent unborn children as possible.
Our principles jog alongside.
On hand was the following, AR-15, M17S Bullpup, Hy-Point 9mm carbine, SKS, Colt M1991 .45, Baretta 92FS, Ruger .40 ACP, New England Arms 45-70, Taurus .357, Ruger .22 rifle, plus various shotguns both 12 and 20 gauge, pumps, over and under, and autos. We could have started our own war.
KABOOM!
Much to do about nothing.
Perhaps abolishing tenure would be a good way for colleges to control costs, as well as gain the authority to fire incompetent, socialist, immoral, and crackpot teachers at will.
"Fire at will." I like the idea.
Interesting thought. I sure hope so...
I encourage you and your supporters to focus on the real issue facing our country and it isn't the First Amendment. The central issue on which we all should focus is what sort of free speech legislation and policies will best prevent the dissemination of inane drivel by self-important over-educated idiots that plagues our country today.
There is NOT a comma there, blast it!
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