Quote:
Originally Posted by ISCS Yoda View Post
You know what? I want to be wrong.
***GRJ***
Well, that's okay, because you are wrong. You give common people's powers of observation too much credit and their rationality too little. Our local big city newspaper that railed against open carry conceded on the editorial page that open carry was no big deal. Of course, this is Oklahoma where the anti-gun nuts' "magical thinking" holds little sway.
I wish I was wrong......
But I won't go over the whole concept again. Since the moderators allow this debate in the concealed carry forum let's discuss the law.
The Second Amendment: 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.
Well regulated means disciplined, maybe organized, definitely trained, and in the context of the 19th Century it meant all able bodied men/citizens who were expected to be ready to fight if called upon. The citizens were the militia. So no argument about the Army or the National Guard works against the concept that the militia is US, you and me. Currently, however, that part of the Second Amendment is not under too much scrutiny, not that I am aware of, anyway.
"Being necessary to the security of a free State" - well, how do you keep your country free? Defend it. Who does that? The people. We might pay people to do it, e.g., uniform armed forces, but it's still the people. And "people" for Con Law definitions is US, you and me, so the 2nd Am applies to US!
So, we, the people, have the "right to keep and bear arms", a right that "shall not be infringed".
Seriously? Do you really believe it is an unfettered right to carry a firearm anywhere, anytime, whenever you wish?
IT MOST ASSUREDLY IS NOT.
If you look at the law in America and the rights guaranteed to the people you can routinely find where the so-called, Gd-give, guaranteed rights have limitations. Speech? You cannot say anything at anytime anywhere. The classic example is yelling "FIRE" in a crowded theater when there is no fire. Get yourself arrested. Okay, you don't like that one? Go ahead and tell everyone that some person you know is a bank robber. Oops. He really isn't? LAWSUIT! You lose. So, now, how much of your speech is FREE?
Those are simple examples. There are plenty more. You and ten friends gather in the Wal-Mart parking lot, rifles on your shoulders, to protest Wal-Mart's policy against guns. Wal-Mart security comes out and asks you to leave because (a) Wal-Mart doesn't allow firearms on its premises and (b) you don't have permission to be there. Your reply? First Amendment right to assemble peacefully and you're behaving and Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Oops. Wrong. It's their property, you are now a criminal trespasser and you're under arrest. No right to assemble on Wal-Mart's property exists and they get to decide who does or does not carry a gun on their premises. Wow! Two guaranteed rights and you're in the calaboose anyway?
So there you have it. None of the rights are unfettered and each can be infringed under the right circumstances. We won't even go into the concept that the FEDERAL Second Amendment was only just recently applied to the States (McDonald case) so for 2 centuries the States were able to infringe the right to keep and bear arms to their heart's content. Do you think that the Supreme Court applied the Second Amendment to the States and that application dramatically erased all States' gun control laws? It did not. The Court allowed "reasonable restrictions". WHOA BUDDY!!!! Isn't that infringement? Arguably, yes it is. Arguably, it's LEGAL infringement.
So let's a get a grip here on what we can and cannot do when it comes to flaunting our firearms in public.
***GRJ***