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Posted on 05/08/2002 7:28:03 AM PDT by ncson
Justice Dept.: Gun Rights Protected
Wed May 8, 9:14 AM ET
By ANNE GEARAN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Reversing decades of Justice Department (news - web sites) policy, the Bush administration has told the Supreme Court for the first time that it believes the Constitution protects an individual's right to possess firearms.
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The administration's view represents a reversal of government interpretations of the Second Amendment gong back some 40 years.
"The current position of the United States ... is that the Second Amendment more broadly protects the rights 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," Solicitor General Theodore Olson wrote in two court filings this week.
That right, however, is "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."
Olson, the administration's top Supreme Court lawyer, was reflecting the view of Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) that the Second Amendment confers the right to "keep and bear arms" to private citizens and not merely to the "well-regulated militia" mentioned in the amendment's text.
Ashcroft caused a stir when he expressed a similar sentiment a year ago in a letter to the National Rifle Association.
"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," Ashcroft wrote.
Critics accused him of kowtowing to the NRA and of undermining federal prosecutors by endorsing a legal view 180 degrees away from what has been official Justice Department policy through four Democratic and five Republican administrations.
At the time Ashcroft wrote the letter, it was unclear whether he was expressing his personal view or stating a new policy position for the government. That question was mostly answered last November, when he sent a letter to federal prosecutors praising an appeals court decision that found "the Second Amendment does protect individual rights" but noting that those rights could be subject to "limited, narrowly tailored specific exceptions."
That opinion by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (news - web sites) went on to reject arguments from Texas physician Timothy Emerson that a 1994 federal gun law was unconstitutional. The law was intended to deny guns to people under judicial restraining orders.
"In my view, the Emerson opinion, and the balance it strikes, generally reflect the correct understanding of the Second Amendment," Ashcroft told prosecutors.
Emerson appealed to the Supreme Court, putting the Justice Department in an awkward position. Although the government won its case in the lower court using the old interpretation of the Second Amendment, Ashcroft had switched gears by the time the case reached the high court.
Olson's court filing Monday urged the high court not to get involved and acknowledged the policy change in a lengthy footnote. Olson also attached Ashcroft's letter to prosecutors.
Olson made the same notation in a separate case involving a man convicted of owning two machine guns in violation of federal law. In that case, the government also won a lower court decision endorsing a federal gun control law.
The Justice Department issued a statement Tuesday night saying its latest comments reflect the attorney general's position in the November letter to prosecutors.
"This action is proof positive that the worst fears about Attorney General Ashcroft have come true: his extreme ideology on guns has now become government policy," said Michael Barnes, president of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which promotes gun control.
Barnes noted that other federal appeals courts and the Supreme Court have not found the same protection for individual gun ownership that the 5th Circuit asserted in the Emerson case.
The Supreme Court last ruled on the scope of the Second Amendment in 1939.
The amendment protects only those rights that have "some reasonable relationship to the preservation of efficiency of a well-regulated militia," the high court said then.
The cases are Emerson v. United States, 01-8780 and Haney v. United States, 01-8272.
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These people are just unbelievable.
(This opinion comes from someone who used to think it would probably be a good idea to remove as many handguns from society as possible.)
In the case of the Klinton administration, absolutely. Believe it or not, Reno's Justice Dept issued a public statement that the official position of the United States government was that individual citizens had NO Constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
An armed society is a polite society.
"This is not good news; we needed that test."
It's still amzing to watch the pom pom shakers.
Gun Owners Group Takes Aim at Lott (Treason On 2ndAmd, Gungrab Sununu Vs Patriot GunChampion Smith)
LAURA BUSH:
"During her San Diego speech, for instance, she said nothing about the school shooting that occurred 20 miles away in El Cajon the day before, although in a television interview she condemned it, adding that she thinks more gun control laws are needed.
"I think that's very important," she said when asked by CNN whether stronger gun laws are needed."
Source
Mandatory Gun Show Background Check Act
RON PAUL: "PILOTS vs. BUREAUCRATS"
United States Thrown Off United Nations Human Rights Commission
Bush approves payment on back dues to United Nations
BUSH ADMINISTRATION OPPOSES RETALIATION AGAINST UNITED NATIONS
United Nations Day Proclamation {By the President of the United States of America}
There's only two sides.
or 
Foolin' them is easy isn't it? Heck yes.
Yup. It ain't what any rational person would call "complex"; at least not so far as guns are concerned. The real question is, how far does it go? Individual rights to keep and bear tanks? F-14s? Nuclear weapons? Setting limits is where an individual right gets tricky.
"W. Wimps Out on Guns"
The Bush package includes several pet causes of the gun-control lobby, including $75 million for gun locks; $15.3 million for 113 new federal attorneys to serve as full-time gun prosecutors; and $19.1 million to expand a program by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms aimed at preventing youths from obtaining guns. Although Bush stressed that he simply wants to "enforce existing laws," the fine print of Project Safe echoes the gun-grabbing Left's call to ban the importation of high-capacity ammunition clips."
Project Safe Neighborhoods, A Closer Look
NEA Resource Text Guide In Regards To The Extreme Right - Where Do Your Kids Go To School?
"The radical right says it is pro-life but it bitterly opposes gun control legislation"
Bush Signs His 26.5 Billion Education Bill
And then, of course, there's Senator Edward Kennedy. And the folks at the Crawford Coffee Shop would be somewhat shocked when I told them I actually like the fellow. He is a fabulous United States senator."
Cooking The Books At Education
George W. Bush and the Third Way
The Supreme Court Will Never Safeguard Your Gun Rights
You're not going to screw with
that deal promised me concerning Ray, right?
No, we'll move on. Heck, thanks.
This is the single most unknown/ignored/misunderstood fact in the debate over the meaning of the Second Ammendment.
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.
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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?
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