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October 5, 2007
Self-Described Liberal Discovers Second Amendment
Posted by Dave Blount at October 5, 2007 10:01 AM
Possibly while searching in vain for the part of the Constitution that grants women the right to kill their babies, law professor Jonathan Turley has stumbled upon the Second Amendment:
Like many academics, I was happy to blissfully ignore the Second Amendment. It did not fit neatly into my socially liberal agenda.
But:
Principle is a terrible thing, because it demands not what is convenient but what is right. It is hard to read the Second Amendment and not honestly conclude that the Framers intended gun ownership to be an individual right.
Turley can't help but discard the canard that the Second Amendment only grants the right to bear arms to government militias because it starts with "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state…"
[T]he mere reference to a purpose of the Second Amendment does not alter the fact that an individual right is created. The right of the people to keep and bear arms is stated in the same way as the right to free speech or free press. The statement of a purpose was intended to reaffirm the power of the states and the people against the central government. At the time, many feared the federal government and its national army. Gun ownership was viewed as a deterrent against abuse by the government, which would be less likely to mess with a well-armed populace.
Considering the Framers and their own traditions of hunting and self-defense, it is clear that they would have viewed such ownership as an individual right — consistent with the plain meaning of the amendment.
None of this is easy for someone raised to believe that the Second Amendment was the dividing line between the enlightenment and the dark ages of American culture. Yet, it is time to honestly reconsider this amendment and admit that … here's the really hard part … the NRA may have been right.
No kidding.
On a tip from Byron.
