Map of life expectancy at birth from Global Education Project.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

About that Second Amendment


Jeffrey Sachs is of course correct. The amendment has to do with an archaic debate about federalism. It protects the state militias, not some bozo who wants to walk around the shopping mall with a gat on his hip so he can shoot any black kid who looks threatening, or a bunch of louts who think they can resist "tyranny" by taking on the United States army. The state militias are now the National Guard. That's the well-regulated militia. Back in the day, the militia members owned their own muskets, and kept them at home, which is why the amendment reads as it does.

The Supreme Court, in decreeing that a) this has anything to do with a "right" that pertains to individuals and b) has any application at all in the United States post about 1800, is legislating from the bench. This "interpretation" has nothing to do with conservatism or "original intent" or even jurisprudence. It's just a fraud. There is no such thing as gun rights, or gun owners rights, or a right to bear arms, deriving from the Constitution of the United States.

None. It's all nonsense.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It is nonsense, but with a rich and powerful lobby to keep it intact.