Legal Weapon
"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."
Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States
Whenever a shooting incident, like the one at the Brookfield Sheraton on March 12, shocks the public, people ask why Americans (regardless of mental condition) can own and use guns. The answer is the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights quoted above. How this came to be, and what efforts have been made to regulate gun ownership, are the subjects of this Glazerbeam.
1. What was the role of the militia in America when the Bill of Rights was adopted?
Before the American Revolution, all free white males over 18 years were expected to join the militia in each colony, bringing their own guns from home. The original role of the militia was to repel Indian attacks.
After July 4, 1776, all the state militias joined the Continental Army under General George Washington. The militia formed 71% of this army, and participated in most of the early battles against the British.
The Constitution gave the President the right to command all the state militias when in service to the United States (1).
2. Why was the Second Amendment adopted?
When the Bill of Rights was drawn up, most state constitutions included the right to keep and bear arms. Some of the framers of the Bill of Rights feared that a future president might abolish the state militias and use the US Army to rule the country. James Madison wrote that the best way to secure American liberty was to keep an armed and trained militia much larger than the US Army (2).
3. Did the militias ever really fight against the US Army?
Yes. When eleven southern states left the Union in late 1860 and early 1861 and formed the Confederacy, their state militias came under the control of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and were among the first to battle federal troops in the Civil War.
4. Do the state militias exist today?
In 1903 Congress organized the militias into the Army National Guard.
5. When did the federal government begin to control gun-owership?
Does federal gun-control violate the Second Amendment?
Federal laws passed in 1934 and 1938 required licensing of gun dealers and limited ownership of machine-guns and sawed-off shotguns.
In 1939 the US Supreme Court ruled in US vs Miller (3) that the Second Amendment did not ban federal limitations on guns not used by a state militia. (Miller and his co-defendents were gangsters.)
In 1976 the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled in US vs Waring (4) that the Second Amendment granted the right to bear arms to the states, not individuals. The US Supreme Court has neither affirmed nor reversed Waring, so it may be cited as precedent in future gun-control litigation, but is not binding in any other federal circuit.
Since the Waring decision, Congress has enacted the Brady Act (1992) which requires background-checks of gun-buyers. This Act was upheld, except that provisions requiring state co-operation were ruled unenforceable.
6. What have states done to control gun-ownership?
Most states prohibit convicted felons and those judged insane from owning and bearing firearms. Wisconsin, along with 26 other states, also bans carrying concealed weapons in public, except by police and federal agents.
7. Republicans say that if ordinary citizens could carry concealed guns, the criminals would be afraid to commit crimes. Are they right?
A comparison of gun-violence in Seattle, Washington (which permits concealed carry) and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (which does not), between 1980 and 1984 showed a much higher rate of shooting deaths in Seattle than Vancouver (5).
If you were threatened by an armed robber, and you pulled your own gun out of your pocket, he would have to shoot you. Is that better than losing your wallet?
8. Can we allow law-abiding citizens to have guns, and still keep them out of the hands of the criminal and the insane?
Unfortunately, no. Criminals can steal guns or buy them from friends who have a clean record. Often perpetrators of outrageous crimes, such as the Brookfield shooting, have had no prior record of crime or mental illness, and could have passed the most exacting background check. (6)
9. If all privately-owned guns were eliminated, would violent crime be reduced? Is a gun-free America possible?
Hypothetically speaking, elimination of guns from the American public would reduce murder and robbery big-time.
There are over 200 million firearms in American homes and businesses; to seize them all would require a huge army and drastic violations of Fourth Amendment rights. This is not going to happen.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1)US Constitution, Article II, Section 2, paragraph 1.
(2)The Federalist Number 46.
(3) 307US174, 1939.
(4)500F.2d103,1976.
(5)New England Journal of Medicine, Nov. 10, 1988. Handguns were 4.8 times more likely to be used in homicides in Seattle than Vancouver. The rate of handgun assaults in Seattle was 7 times the Vancouver rate
(6)Booth, Oswald, Sirhan and Chapman (who killed John Lennon) had no criminal record. Neither did Charles J Whitman, who shot 33 people from a tower in Austin, Texas, on August 1, 1966. John Hinckley (who wounded President Reagan on March 31, 1981) bought his gun legally, even though he was being treated for mental illness at the time. Brookfield killer Terry Ratzmann passed the required background-=check in 48 hours without any probem.
the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States
Whenever a shooting incident, like the one at the Brookfield Sheraton on March 12, shocks the public, people ask why Americans (regardless of mental condition) can own and use guns. The answer is the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights quoted above. How this came to be, and what efforts have been made to regulate gun ownership, are the subjects of this Glazerbeam.
1. What was the role of the militia in America when the Bill of Rights was adopted?
Before the American Revolution, all free white males over 18 years were expected to join the militia in each colony, bringing their own guns from home. The original role of the militia was to repel Indian attacks.
After July 4, 1776, all the state militias joined the Continental Army under General George Washington. The militia formed 71% of this army, and participated in most of the early battles against the British.
The Constitution gave the President the right to command all the state militias when in service to the United States (1).
2. Why was the Second Amendment adopted?
When the Bill of Rights was drawn up, most state constitutions included the right to keep and bear arms. Some of the framers of the Bill of Rights feared that a future president might abolish the state militias and use the US Army to rule the country. James Madison wrote that the best way to secure American liberty was to keep an armed and trained militia much larger than the US Army (2).
3. Did the militias ever really fight against the US Army?
Yes. When eleven southern states left the Union in late 1860 and early 1861 and formed the Confederacy, their state militias came under the control of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and were among the first to battle federal troops in the Civil War.
4. Do the state militias exist today?
In 1903 Congress organized the militias into the Army National Guard.
5. When did the federal government begin to control gun-owership?
Does federal gun-control violate the Second Amendment?
Federal laws passed in 1934 and 1938 required licensing of gun dealers and limited ownership of machine-guns and sawed-off shotguns.
In 1939 the US Supreme Court ruled in US vs Miller (3) that the Second Amendment did not ban federal limitations on guns not used by a state militia. (Miller and his co-defendents were gangsters.)
In 1976 the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled in US vs Waring (4) that the Second Amendment granted the right to bear arms to the states, not individuals. The US Supreme Court has neither affirmed nor reversed Waring, so it may be cited as precedent in future gun-control litigation, but is not binding in any other federal circuit.
Since the Waring decision, Congress has enacted the Brady Act (1992) which requires background-checks of gun-buyers. This Act was upheld, except that provisions requiring state co-operation were ruled unenforceable.
6. What have states done to control gun-ownership?
Most states prohibit convicted felons and those judged insane from owning and bearing firearms. Wisconsin, along with 26 other states, also bans carrying concealed weapons in public, except by police and federal agents.
7. Republicans say that if ordinary citizens could carry concealed guns, the criminals would be afraid to commit crimes. Are they right?
A comparison of gun-violence in Seattle, Washington (which permits concealed carry) and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (which does not), between 1980 and 1984 showed a much higher rate of shooting deaths in Seattle than Vancouver (5).
If you were threatened by an armed robber, and you pulled your own gun out of your pocket, he would have to shoot you. Is that better than losing your wallet?
8. Can we allow law-abiding citizens to have guns, and still keep them out of the hands of the criminal and the insane?
Unfortunately, no. Criminals can steal guns or buy them from friends who have a clean record. Often perpetrators of outrageous crimes, such as the Brookfield shooting, have had no prior record of crime or mental illness, and could have passed the most exacting background check. (6)
9. If all privately-owned guns were eliminated, would violent crime be reduced? Is a gun-free America possible?
Hypothetically speaking, elimination of guns from the American public would reduce murder and robbery big-time.
There are over 200 million firearms in American homes and businesses; to seize them all would require a huge army and drastic violations of Fourth Amendment rights. This is not going to happen.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1)US Constitution, Article II, Section 2, paragraph 1.
(2)The Federalist Number 46.
(3) 307US174, 1939.
(4)500F.2d103,1976.
(5)New England Journal of Medicine, Nov. 10, 1988. Handguns were 4.8 times more likely to be used in homicides in Seattle than Vancouver. The rate of handgun assaults in Seattle was 7 times the Vancouver rate
(6)Booth, Oswald, Sirhan and Chapman (who killed John Lennon) had no criminal record. Neither did Charles J Whitman, who shot 33 people from a tower in Austin, Texas, on August 1, 1966. John Hinckley (who wounded President Reagan on March 31, 1981) bought his gun legally, even though he was being treated for mental illness at the time. Brookfield killer Terry Ratzmann passed the required background-=check in 48 hours without any probem.
posted by Gerald S Glazer at 9:03 AM
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