Would one be allowed to openly carry a tazer? A blackjack? Mace? A sword, even, where one can openly carry a gun?
...If we're going to judge strictly by the language, then as far as that second clause of the amendment goes i think we're actually heading towards the original intention of the law, which along the way was lost in arguments about what the intent of the authors was.
Or maybe it's the fact that the 2nd Amendment wasn't incorporated into the 14th Amendment until the McDonald decision 4 years ago.
As I said, if you could point me towards a more expanded version of your quote where the court explains what it found to be the original meaning, I'd find it most helpful![]()
Would one be allowed to openly carry a tazer? A blackjack? Mace? A sword, even, where one can openly carry a gun?
Except for pepper spray, Not in California - just about anything carried with the intent of using the object as a weapon - even a self defense weapon - is illegal w/o a specific license to carry (in the case of firearms) and no license exists for the rest of your list. It is legal to have some of those items in the home for defense (taser, sword -although using a sword for defense might raise a few questions in the media and the DA's office should such a thing occur)
Yes it does.
The New Yorker said:For more than a hundred years, the answer was clear, even if the words of the amendment itself were not. The text of the amendment is divided into two clauses and is, as a whole, ungrammatical: “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.” The courts had found that the first part, the “militia clause,” trumped the second part, the “bear arms” clause. In other words, according to the Supreme Court, and the lower courts as well, the amendment conferred on state militias a right to bear arms—but did not give individuals a right to own or carry a weapon.
Enter the modern National Rifle Association. Before the nineteen-seventies, the N.R.A. had been devoted mostly to non-political issues, like gun safety. But a coup d’état at the group’s annual convention in 1977 brought a group of committed political conservatives to power—as part of the leading edge of the new, more rightward-leaning Republican Party. (Jill Lepore recounted this history in a recent piece for The New Yorker.) The new group pushed for a novel interpretation of the Second Amendment, one that gave individuals, not just militias, the right to bear arms. It was an uphill struggle. At first, their views were widely scorned. Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, who was no liberal, mocked the individual-rights theory of the amendment as “a fraud.”
Then there's no reason for the police, politicians, or the bodyguards of politicians to carry firearms either. When they give up theirs I'll give up mine, deal?
All of those arms ought to be covered by the 2A, which mentions 'arms', not specific to guns.
We're partially agreeing then. You call it "heading towards," I call it "expanding." Where we probably disagree is when you start talking about 'the original intent that was lost.' Where you appear to be claiming to know to a certainty the original intent of the Founding Fathers. The judges who for years thought the Second Amendment had to do with citizen militias made the same claim.
Same thing. The Second Amendment wasn't incorporated into the Fourteenth Amendment until the Scalia Court did so four years ago? I don't know what better evidence there is that the scope of the Second Amendment is being expanded. I also don't understand why all the pro-gun arguers are bothered by that statement. When it seems pretty self-evident.
Need some help with your taxes too?
I already posted a link. Here it is again. Link When the page opens scroll down to the document entitled "Opinion" and dated "02/07/2014." That opens a 112-page pdf document with the Ninth Circuit's finding.
The Second Amendment wasn't incorporated into the Fourteenth Amendment until the Scalia Court did so four years ago? I don't know what better evidence there is that the scope of the Second Amendment is being expanded. I also don't understand why all the pro-gun arguers are bothered by that statement. When it seems pretty self-evident.
I would call it application rather than scope. McDonald incorporated the Second through the due process clause of the 14th Amendment.
Call it application then. But you're avoiding the point here. Whether it was incorporated or applied, isn't it evidence that the legal meaning of the Second Amendment, the essence of the Amendment, is changing? Changing in a way that clearly expands it?
Yesterday the Ninth Circuit Court in California ruled the Second Amendment gives individuals the right to "bear arms in lawful self-defense." That's a clear expansion of the legal meaning of the Second Amendment. No where in the Second Amendment do the words "lawful self-defense" appear.
Yes, it does. Read the 9th Circuit's Peruta v. San Diego for pertinent historical proof. I notice you have cited nothing to evidence your claim, likely because nothing is all you have.No, it doesn't:
(citation needed)In other words, the individual right to own firearms were treated as privilege not a right. That was the way the founders intended the amendment, because they had the wisdom to know that the average person were perhaps not suited to own such weapons.
I've shot with police officers before, some are good shots some are horrendous. Have you seen the NYC police in action?I have no problem with police, politicians, bodyguards, or military personel having firearms because they are trained in their use (and even then things happen, albeit at a lower rate than in the general public), how much does John Q Public have?
Then repeal the 2nd Amendment, don't pretend it doesn't exist.Because of the inherent dangers guns propose and the incredible responsibility they require gun ownership needs to be treated like a privilege, not a right.
Self defense was always a core meaning, going back to the writings of the framers.Call it application then. But you're avoiding the point here. Whether it was incorporated or applied, isn't it evidence that the legal meaning of the Second Amendment, the essence of the Amendment, is changing? Changing in a way that clearly expands it?
Yesterday the Ninth Circuit Court in California ruled the Second Amendment gives individuals the right to "bear arms in lawful self-defense." That's a clear expansion of the legal meaning of the Second Amendment. No where in the Second Amendment do the words "lawful self-defense" appear.
No where in the Second Amendment do the words "lawful self-defense" appear.
No, just that now it's being applied and enforced. That doesn't mean it didn't exist before.
...Where does "abortion" appear in the Constitution btw? Do you think Roe v. Wade was the wrong verdict, or do you have double standards?
I'm saying that when they cite the right to "lawful self-defense" in the Second Amendment they are expanding the legal definition of the Second Amendment.
What you are saying is wrong. The right to possess weapons for the purpose of self defense existed in the common law long before the constitution was written.