hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (Jerry Hollombe) (01/22/85)
Before going on let's get one thing straight:
I AM NOT TAKING A POSITION ON THE ISSUE OF GUN CONTROL IN THIS POSTING.
(So put away the flame throwers.)
I merely wish to present some FACTS that both sides may find interesting.
The following is taken (yes, without permission) from the Uncommon Law
column titled "The Right to Arm Bears" written by Jim Lange in the
January/February Mensa Bulletin (page 22). Lange likewise took no position
on gun control in the article.
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Text of the 2nd amendment:
"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."
This is all the United States Constitution has to say on the subject.
The 2nd amendment is one of the few portions of the Bill of Rights which
has not been binding on the states through the equal protection clause of
the 14th amendment.
In 200 years the Supreme Court has ruled only 4 times on the 2nd amendment.
Only one of those times was in this century. In that case (U.S. v.
Miller) the SC upheld the banning of the possession of a sawed-off shotgun
by the National Firearms Act on grounds that the sawed-off shotgun is not a
"militia weapon".
A militia is the state equivalent of a posse, the entire able-bodied
citizenry. No true militia exists, nor has, since the Civil War.
The 2nd amendment has been more honored in the breach than in the
observance. The right to keep and bear arms is, with the support of the
citizens, infringed in most urban states.
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My sincere apologies to Jim Lange if I have in any way distorted his
meaning or intent in the process of extraction and paraphrasing. I have
deliberately left out his speculations as to why the SC has ruled or failed
to rule as it has and his remarks about possible interpretations and
extensions of their rulings.
It is my hope that these facts will give both sides of the debate something
to _think_ about (as opposed to shout about).
One more time:
NEITHER MYSELF NOR JIM LANGE HAS TAKEN A
POSITION ON GUN CONTROL IN THIS POSTING.
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The Polymath (Jerry Hollombe)
Citicorp TTI If thy CRT offend thee, pluck
3100 Ocean Park Blvd. it out and cast it from thee.
Santa Monica, California 90405
(213) 450-9111, ext. 2483
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