A Key Case on Gun Control

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Ms. Schwartz makes significant errors in her article, most which have been covered here already. Two critical ones that she makes are:
1. "Most other freedoms granted by the Bill of Rights..." The Bill of Rights does not GRANT any rights. Our rights come from God (inalienable) and existed BEFORE the Constituition was written. The Bill of Rights PREVENTS the Government from TAKING our rights.
2. Ms Schwartz quotes the 2n Admendment as: "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."
Unfortunately this is NOT the version that was ratified by the states. The version that was ratified reads:
"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."
Anti-gun groups use the three comma version because the single comma version is so clear and hard to get around. Don't believe me? Google it.
Ms. Schwartz also fails to mention the key argument that the Pink Pistols raise in their brief. They argue that if gun ownership is available only through the militia, GLBT persons can NEVER own a weapon because they are excluded from military service. Making gun ownership a "collective" right excludes gay persons. This puts liberals in a tough position. By being anti-gun you are discriminating against gays. The brief is very well written and bears reading. I suspect that Ms. Schwartz never did.

Anthony Oresteen of FL 8:32PM April 06, 2008

the second amendment is the ultimit amendment because it is what keeps us from being mindless slaves to the goverment. If only Police can carry guns then we will be at the goverments mercy and we will be everything our Founding Fathers fought AGAINST!!! DOWN WITH HILARYS ANTI-GUN LAWS

Real American of MA 9:37AM April 04, 2008

I think we all have a right to have a gun. Look at Australia it has NO guns except for criminals and cops, and it has a high increase in crime.While Switzertland is the has
the most guns per person and the only crime they get comes from visiters. If you got rid of guns in America there would be such a high rate of homicide it woul kill off all of our cops.

of DC 9:25AM April 04, 2008

like i think they should let the people keep their guns cause thats what the right said
they can do :D lollll go obama ~

nevermind of NY 4:50PM March 29, 2008

The comments about gun owners, and ownership, by Mr. Sears is emblematic of what we too often see in the attempt to ban guns. Mr. Sears is "pretty sure" about all of his assumptions, therefore facts and research are simply not necessary. Had he bothered, he would have found that his "facts" are demonstrably false.
Feelings alone are enough to strip a constitutional right from everyone. Before constitutional opponents rush to dismiss my comments as the ravings of a gun nut, I do not now, nor have I ever, owned a gun. But my not owning a gun doesn't mean the Second Amendment isn't valid any more than my never having been tried even once for a crime mean that the Fifth's Amendment's protection against "double jeopardy" isn't valid.

Dave Cloud of IN 3:59PM March 22, 2008

Isn't the 2nd amendment designed to protect us from a government who would conspire to remove our guaranteed collective and individual freedoms and rights by force or otherwise?
It seems to me that we are living in times of exactly that. Why would we, as a nation, want to cave in to that??
I have Jewish kids. Half of the people (more or less) in the world don't know them and want them dead anyway and are actively trying to eradicate them. Do I have the right to teach them to defend themselves and their children?
Do I have the right to provide them with the means to protect their own rights to "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit orf Happiness"?
Shall we create a guerrilla mentality in this country by oppressing the masses?
Should we have armed government authorities disarming and arresting people who have committed no crime?
What would Hitler do?

Tom Jets of CA 8:09PM March 20, 2008

For those among our British friends who have contributed to this debate I would like to point out that up until the early 20th century it was as easy to buy a gun in London as it was in Dodge City. When Winston Churchill was preparing to go to cover the Boer War as a journalist he simply walked into a fashionable London retailer and purchased a Mauser semi-automatic pistol. British gun control began as part of the effort to prevent Irish nationalists from obtaining arms to use in their fight for independence. Moving ahead to today I would like to ask if most people reading this would feel safer walking at night through the downtown areas of Salt Lake City, Utah, where guns are easily available to law abiding citizens, or London, where any attempt to resist a criminal attack is likely to get you arrested? I have lived in both places and I can assure that for me the answer is not London!

Samuel Madsen 6:14AM March 20, 2008

I am sorry for your loss Mr. Cook.
The very horror that there are people who will murder us is the best argument for the right to keep and BEAR arms in my opinion! Has any criminal ever obeyed a "gun free zone" sign and other meaningless (to the criminal) gun laws?!
Many other countries have tried to round up all the guns. Their gun related crimes have continued unabated. The criminals did not surrender their guns-surprised?! These evil men have become even more brazen-the breaking into a homes while the owner is still within has increased dramatically in these countries post gun bans and occurs at a much higher rate than it does in the US.
Thomas Jefferson believed in carrying a gun. He believed that doing so was the only practical way to dissuade an evil man. Believe naively that a gun ban will protect you or buy a firearm and be prepared to protect yourself!

Steve T of MA 5:26PM March 19, 2008

The Second Ammendment of the United States Constitution gives all the right to bear arms. It was the right to bear arms by the colonists in the United States that allowed the colonists to stand and to fight against the red coats. Still today in 2008 we need the right to bear arms as an assurance that we will never fall into the arms political tearony or oppression again. The Second Ammendment is over 200 years old and is still standing strong and it still should stand strong for 2,000 more years.

John Winchester of ID 10:52AM March 19, 2008

When a gun law personally impacts you, the rubber meets the road. In my state, you can walk into a Wal-Mart, buy a shotgun and ammunition, and the same day (no waiting period) go kill somebody. It happened to my niece two weeks ago. 29 years old, two young children left behind. Murdered.
You don’t need to ask my opinion of Florida gun law.

Bruce Cook of FL 10:33AM March 19, 2008