[lbo-talk] 2d Amendment/Rule of Law (Was: The curse of literacy)

jmhayes at j-o-r-d-a-n.com jmhayes at j-o-r-d-a-n.com
Mon Jul 19 14:55:36 PDT 2004



> I am not, as I have said impressed by arguments about
> original intent - whether from Justice Scalia or Dan
> Lazare. Who cares what they meant, if what they said
> is clear?

I'd be okay with that -- IF 2A WAS CLEAR! I think the interesting point of The Embarrassing Second Ammendment (which by now it seems you haven't read?) is that no one (except you, 'natch) has said "This is so clear that we needn't bother thinking or writing about it" (such as you might say about the 3rd, although there's an interesting case that ought to have a movie made about it!), but rather it has just been neglected. It also gives a decent overview of the N ways you try to come to an understanding of any ammendment and then proceeds to do just that. He doesn't come up with any conclusions (of course) but he does bring a lot more questions to the table than this thread has.

I'd be very surprised if you read the thing and still kept your "it's perfectly clear" stance; really, you're the first person I've ever seen say that. I'm not a big proponent of 2A (by that I mean someone who complains about gun control laws on a constitutional basis), nor am I a big fan of many gun control laws (there are too many of them, they are often confusing and/or contradicting, they tend to make felons of unaware people, and they seem to be based on fear rather than sense), but I think there's a vast gulf between the actions that Congress [and state and local governments too!] has taken and the little bit of review the Supremes have done ... perhaps it has been long enough that "we the people" no longer even know what it was (supposed) to mean ...

/jordan



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