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My point here has been from the beginning that after reading justice Scalia's majority opinion, I think that I have a better historical perspective on the origins of the second amendment and why the founders believed it necessary. After reading that opinion in its entirety, it became pretty clear that the founders feared the power of government and felt that free men should have the ability to defend themselves even against a tyrannical government. I don't personally think that our current government is tyrannical, nor would I ever want to be in the position of taking up arms in that way, but the point is that Scalia feels that the right of self defense is a "human" right, not something that a legitimate government can take away. The problem with not making the argument is that one then is basically saying that self defense is NOT a right, and it is reasonable for the citizenry to allow the government to remove one's means of self defense. It seems to me that the argument that Justice Scalia was making was that a defenseless citizenry invites a tyrannical government.
Any doctrine that weakens personal responsibility for judgment and for action helps create the attitudes that welcome and support the totalitarian state.
(John Dewey)
Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company.
(George Washington)
Gig'em Aggies!! BTCO'77HOO t.u.!!
www.HughLieck.photoshelter.com
One cannot reason someone out of something they were not reasoned into. - Jonathan Swift
Mike, if your NJ friends wouldn't let their kids come to your house because you were a banker would you have quit your job?
As hpl has pointed out numerous times read Scalias opinion
Better yet read some of the writings of the founding fathers on their intent and meaning of the 2nd A
As for your analogy on FTs Id prefer that we not hide from the antis. They dont have to hide their hobbies from me so why should I hide mine from them. Hiding kind of gives off an air of your ashamed of what youre doing; or that what youre doing is inherently wrong. Additionally Canada doesnt use rubber ducks they use real ducks: they just dont have flyers.
Most importantly about your analogy is that the US Constitution guarantees me the right to keep guns so why in the hell should I hide the fact that I am exercising that right
I know that I keep harping on Justice Scalia's opinion, but it actually made some points that I hadn't really considered before. Foremost among these was that the government doesn't "GIVE" me the right to keep arms. That right is seen as a "human" right tied to the "God given" right of self defense. That might seem a small distinction, but, any right the government "gives" one, the government can easily take away. The Bill of Rights was instituted to a great extent to force the government to acknowledge in writing that its power over the citizenry was limited, and to affirm that certain human rights actually do exist. That seems to me to be a VERY important point.
Any doctrine that weakens personal responsibility for judgment and for action helps create the attitudes that welcome and support the totalitarian state.
(John Dewey)
Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company.
(George Washington)
Gig'em Aggies!! BTCO'77HOO t.u.!!
www.HughLieck.photoshelter.com
The McDonald ruling also has some fascinating reading:
http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-1521.pdf
I particularly liked this by Scalia:
Stevens wrote a dissent, and then Scalia bitch slapped him with this as a going away present:
".....And the Court’s approach intrudes less upon the democratic process because the rights it acknowledges are those established by a constitutional history formed by democratic decisions; and the rights it fails to acknowledge are left to be democratically adopted or rejected by the people, with the assurance that their decision is not subject to judicial revision. JUSTICE STEVENS’ approach, on the other hand, deprives the people of that power, since whatever the Constitution and laws may say, the list of protected rights will be whatever courts wish it to be. After all, he notes, the people have been wrong before, post, at 55, and courts may conclude they are wrong in the future. JUSTICE STEVENS abhors a system in which “majorities or powerful interest groups always get their way,” post, at 56, but replaces it with a system in which unelected and life tenured judges always get their way. That such usurpation is effected unabashedly, see post, at 53—with “the judge’s cards . . . laid on the table,” ibid.—makes it even worse. In a vibrant democracy, usurpation should have to be accomplished in the dark.It is JUSTICE STEVENS’ approach, not the Court’s, that puts democracy in peril."...