Gun Control & RKBA
In reply to the discussion: This message was self-deleted by its author [View all]jimmy the one
(2,717 posts)eleanors: Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe no justice argued that there was not an individual right to keep and bear arms, only that it comes from different interpretations of the Constitution
You're wrong. Unless you mean it as an individual right to belong to militia, which I doubt.
heller decision: The majoritys conclusion is wrong for two independent reasons. The first reason is that set forth by Justice Stevensnamely, that the Second Amendment protects militia-related, not self-defense-related, interests. These two interests are sometimes intertwined. To assure 18th-century citizens that they could keep arms for militia purposes would necessarily have allowed them to keep arms that they could have used for self-defense as well. But self-defense alone, detached from any militia-related objective, is not the Amendments concern.
eleanors might be referring to this, where the 4 propositions are simply the 4 possible prevailing views in America today (2008 as well as now). He was not endorsing #1 view:
The Second Amendment says that: 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. In interpreting and applying this Amendment, I take as a starting point the following four propositions, based on our precedent and todays opinions, to which I believe the entire Court subscribes:
(1) The Amendment protects an individual righti.e., one that is separately possessed, and may be separately enforced, by each person on whom it is conferred (opinion of the Court); (Stevens, J., dissenting).
(2) As evidenced by its preamble, the Amendment was adopted [w]ith obvious purpose to assure the continuation and render possible the effectiveness of [militia] forces. US v. Miller, (1939)
(3) The Amendment must be interpreted and applied with that end in view. Miller
(4) The right protected by the Second Amendment is not absolute, but instead is subject to government regulation. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/07-290.ZD1.html