Gun Control & RKBA
In reply to the discussion: 2nd Am history: Until 1959, every law review article concluded it didn't guarantee an individ right [View all]jimmy the one
(2,708 posts)sarisataka: Just as the First Amendment does not grant any rights, but simply enumerates several, the Second {amendment} Grant's no rights.
The 2nd amendment & the other amendments in the bill of rights do not 'grant' rights, but both 1) protect individual* rights and 2) prohibit congress from infringing upon them.
*In the 2ndA case, the individual 'right' was to belong to a militia for common defense.
link: DoJ 1938 amicus brief: Second Amendment does NOT grant to the people the right to keep and bear arms, but merely recognizes the prior existence of that right and prohibits its {militial} infringement by Congress
Correct, the 2ndA does not 'grant' a right to keep bear arms, it 'protects' that right - recognizes that right - within the militia sense, from congressional & other infringements. Note the 'and' in the above citation.
sarisatake: The entire BoR is a restriction on the government.
Along with a protection of individual rights:
encyclopedia britannica: Bill of Rights, in the United States, the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which were adopted as a single unit on Dec 15, 1791, and which constitute a collection of mutually reinforcing guarantees of individual rights and of limitations on federal and state governments. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/503541/Bill-of-Rights
Wm Rawle, 1829, A view of the constitution, all caps in link, not my emphasis: CHAPTER X. OF THE RESTRICTIONS ON THE POWERS OF CONGRESS AND ON THE EXECUTIVE AND JUDICIAL AUTHORITIES RESTRICTIONS ON THE POWERS OF STATES AND SECURITY TO THE RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS
Of the amendments already adopted, the eight first in order fall within the class of restrictions on the legislative power, some of which would have been implied, some are original, and all are highly valuable. Some are also to be considered as restrictions on the judicial power.
The constitutions of some of the states contain bills of rights; others do not. A declaration of rights, therefore, properly finds a place in the general Constitution, where it equalizes all and binds all. http://www.constitution.org/wr/rawle_10.htm
wiki: The Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. Proposed to assuage the fears of Anti-Federalists who had opposed Constitutional ratification, these amendments guarantee a number of personal freedoms, limit the government's power in judicial and other proceedings, and reserve some powers to the states and the public. http://www.democraticunderground.com/1172167980