cjh@csin.UUCP (Chip Hitchcock) (08/29/83)
In response to your message of Sat Aug 27 21:04:31 1983:
Sounds like somebody has been swallowing NRA propaganda. . . .
The part of the constitution that is usually waved by all claiming an
unrestricted right to own weapons states:
A well regulated militia being necessary to [the welfare of the
state], the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not
be infringed.
(excuse the brackets, I don't have the exact wording and don't want this
caught up on a technicality). The problem is that the gun owners virtually
never quote anything except the second part of this sentence. It is my
understanding that this issue has been raised up to the level of the Supreme
Court, which has not in the last generation or more decided that this sentence
prevents any restrictions on the ownership of firearms.
To be perfectly blunt, there is a lot in the Constitution that is obsolete.
We are no longer a frontier society (although there are some maniacs who act as
if we still are), nor are we immediately threatened by hostile neighbors,
making it necessary for every able-bodied citizen to be ready to defend his
village. (Consider the difference between us and Switzerland. S requires
military training for all males---but has not attacked a neighbor or
participated (as a nation) in a war in nearly seven centuries. When I was at
the Swiss national exposition in 1964 there was a tablet with the dates of all
the wars that were fought around S and without its participation---it made
quite a display.)
Consider also the provision from that period stating that for purposes of
determining number of representatives a black shall be counted as 3/5 of a
person---would anyone care to defend this? Or the fact that it took an
amendment to get rid of slavery, and another to give women the vote? Getting
back to the Supreme Court, consider the 60- years between Plessy v. Ferguson
(affirming the transparent lie of "separate but equal") and Brown v. Board of
Education (in which the lie was struck down).
It's also amusing to see some of the boll weevils and their allies, who
claim to be strict constructionists, trying to take away constitutionally
allocated powers of other branches of government by legislative fiat or
executive order. There are a lot of "devils quoting scripture" out there today;
be sure you make them quote the whole chapter rather than half a sentence.
CHip
(Chip Hitchcock)
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