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Category Archives: Second Amendment

GUNS: Amendment words to fight over

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Posted: Wednesday, April 30, 2014 12:00 am

GUNS: Amendment words to fight over

There is a very well written discussion on the Second Amendment in Wikipedia. The Second Amendment states, 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.

The Second Amendment was adopted on Dec. 15, 1791. In United States v. Miller (1939) the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government and the states could limit any weapon types not having a reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia. This would make it a collective right, not an individual right. Then in District of Columbia v. Heller, the court held that the amendment protects an individual right to possess and carry firearms.

It seems to me for the court to conclude people have an individual right to firearms, they would have to also conclude that an association with a militia is not necessary even though the language of the Second Amendment expressly ties that right to an association with a militia and not just any militia, but a well regulated militia. This controversy is not over.

BRUCE HANSEN

Coeur dAlene

Posted in Letters to editor on Wednesday, April 30, 2014 12:00 am.

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GUNS: Amendment words to fight over

Gun lobby group receives open government award

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Washington Coalition for Open Government has bestowed a Key Award on the Second Amendment Foundation, Bellevue-based linchpin of the gun-rights lobby in Washington state.

Seattle Police Sgt. Paul Gracy carries a military surface to air missile launcher that was brought to the Seattle gun buyback event . (Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com)

The WCOG award recognizes groups that do something notable to advance the cause of open government.

The Second Amendment Foundation was honored for forcing the City of Seattle to acknowledge that it did not fully comply with the states public records law during Mayor Mike McGinns gun-buyback program.

The award was presented Tuesday to Second Amendment Foundation leader Alan Gottlieb by WCOG leader Toby Nixon, a former Republican state representative.

The Second Amendment Foundation won a $38,000 settlement in which the city acknowledged it had failed to disclose all relevant information in response to a request. The city said it did so unintentionally and promised to improve its record keeping.

The gun-rights group not only won gold but struck gold, since one missing document was a letter in which Washington Ceasefire the states leading gun-safety group told the city that gun buybacks were of little value.

The gun buyback was a city response to the murder of 20 first-graders at a Newtown, Connecticut school. McGinn and the Seattle Police Department collected 756 guns on a raw January day. As the buyback was going on, however,a kind of gun bazaar operated for blocks around the sale site, with signs offering to buy and sell firearms.

Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles: Recognizing the Second Amendment Foundation with a major award seems over the top.

The Second Amendment Foundation acted swiftly and properly to hold the mayors office accountable for the incomplete response to a legitimate public records request, Nixon said in a statement.

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Gun lobby group receives open government award

Common sense calls for repeal of second amendment

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I dont believe the Second Amendment was ever intended to support the kind of gun craziness we contend with today, but since its always used to ward off any common-sense gun reforms, maybe we ought to just fix the Constitution and be done with it.

Yes, I know the odds against that are immense, but maybe we could start by nibbling away at the idea that the Constitution is infallible or that the founders had the answers to everything. They were smart men but neither perfect nor prescient.

One of the ways they showed how smart they were, was that they made a document that could be updated when it needed to be, and today it needs to be on this issue.

Weve had another of those disturbing clusters of shootings in Seattle the past week, and gun violence continues to injure and kill across the country in public, and frequently private, ways. Most gun deaths are suicides.

But some Americans embrace their guns even more tightly even as the headlines call out for sanity. You know what Im talking about.

Last week. Georgias governor signed into law a guns everywhere bill allowing residents of the state to carry guns anywhere in public, schools, churches, bars. You just never know when youll need to shoot someone.

We are already plagued by stand-your-ground laws and now this.

The law was deemed necessary partly because some cities and towns ban guns in most public places, which might seem reasonable if you want to cut down on gun violence, but Georgias leaders believed the answer was more people with more guns. I dont even think its politics anymore. Its a religion all its own.

Did you see the story earlier this week about a gun seller being threatened by gun lovers for trying to market a safer handgun? Belinda Padilla is CEO of the U.S. division of German firearms maker Armatix. Her company is marketing a biometric handgun that wont fire unless it is held by its owner, who has to be wearing a wristwatch that communicates with the gun.

The company wants to sell guns, not ban them, but gun lovers worry elected officials would say, gosh, maybe if every gun was safe like this, thered be fewer criminals shooting people with stolen guns. Thinking like that might lead to laws making it illegal to sell any other kind of gun, thereby depriving Americans of their accustomed freedom to more easily thwart law enforcement.

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Common sense calls for repeal of second amendment

Letter: NRA opposes reasonable responses

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Do many people actually read the Second Amendment? It states 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.

A well regulated militia is the National Guard. The United States also has a standing military force. Any other armed, militant group today would be an anarchic organization opposing the United States. When the amendment was drafted, real concern existed that Britain or some other nation had desires to take over our new nation. While those concerns no longer exist, the article still states we can own firearms.

The National Rifle Association uses the Second Amendment to justify its arming of the country far beyond the flintlock rifle. While member gun owners think their dues are the real support of the NRA, it is the manufacturers of weapons who are the true supporters and who want to sell millions or billions of dollars of arms.

We are facing, in Topeka and elsewhere, an epidemic almost of shootings and murders largely due to firearms. In an attempt to reduce these murders and shootings, the mayor and police chief of Kansas City, Mo., recommend universal mandatory background checks on the sale of all firearms and mandatory reporting of stolen or lost guns.

Multiple studies have shown that 85 to 90 percent of Americans support universal background checks, including 74 percent of National Rifle Association members. Our legislators, state and national, ignore this fact because the NRA gives them large campaign contributions.

No situation exists for the need for multiple shot clips or automatic weaponry. Relatives tell me these guns are fun to shoot. They may be, but the primary objective of the manufacturers is not amusement, but making a gun to kill.

BARTLETT W. RAMSEY, Topeka

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Letter: NRA opposes reasonable responses

Supreme Court Gun Carry Rights; Drake v. Jerejian, Pending petition – Video

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Supreme Court Gun Carry Rights; Drake v. Jerejian, Pending petition
Drake v. Jerejian, Pending petition [NEW TIME] Issue: (1) Whether the Second Amendment secures a right to carry handguns outside the home for self-defense; and (2) whether state officials violate...

By: Hawaii Volcano Squad

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Supreme Court Gun Carry Rights; Drake v. Jerejian, Pending petition - Video

Open Carry Or Concealed Carry In California & Does The NRA Oppose – Video

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Open Carry Or Concealed Carry In California Does The NRA Oppose
Open Carry Or Concealed Carry In California Does the NRA Oppose Open Carry "The NRA and its state organizations like the CRPA here in California as well as the Second Amendment Foundation/CalGuns...

By: Tom C

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Open Carry Or Concealed Carry In California & Does The NRA Oppose - Video

NRA leadership uses Bloomberg gun control push to rally members

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April 25, 2014: National Rifle Association (NRA) Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer Wayne LaPierre speaks during the leadership forum at the National Rifle Association's annual convention in Indianapolis.AP

NRAs leadership has used a recent announcement by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg who has vowed to spend $50 million to push gun control measures to remind members that their Second Amendment rights are in jeopardy.

Rallying his troops, NRA Executive Director Chris Cox, speaking at the groups annual meeting in Indianapolis on Friday, said Bloomberg wants to take away our guns.

He thinks he can buy the hearts and minds of America, Cox said, according to Fox 59. I believe that God gave us this freedom and hes not going to let Michael Bloomberg take it away. Not now. Not ever.

Cox oversees the NRA's $20 million lobbying campaign.

NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre also unveiled a new ad in which NRA members vow to give contributions to battle back against Bloombergs efforts.

Hes one guy with millions, says a man in the 40-second video. Were millions with our 25 bucks. Lets see who crushes who.

Several people in the video announce Ive got $25, the amount of the organizations annual dues.

The video was released after Bloomberg said he plans to spend $50 million this year to build a nationwide grass-roots network to rally anti-gun voters, the New York Times reports.

Youve got to work at it piece by piece, Bloomberg told the newspaper.

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NRA leadership uses Bloomberg gun control push to rally members


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