On 10-29-97 23:05 Re: The Second Amendment and Earnest Padgette wrote: 
 
SR>During the Spring Semester, I took a class on Government,
SR>and learned something
SR>I am surprised I never heard before.
SR>There has been a lot of talk about the "right to bear arms" and such
SR>can't take my guns, I have a Constitutional right to it".  I find it
SR>interesting that the Supreme Court has NEVER interpreted 
SR>the Second Amendmen
SR>as an individual's right to own firearms.  It has ALWAYS 
SR>interpreted it as t
SR>right of a state to have a militia (National Guard).
EP>        The men who *wrote* it were pretty clear, Sean. It's an
EP>        individual right. EP
SR>If a city wishes to, they can even outlaw firearms 
SR>within their city limits.
SR>It has been done, and is Constitutional!
SR>I'm surprised I did not hear this BEFORE my Senior year in college :
SR>--- Synchronet+SBBSecho v1.22
EP>        The Constitution leaves some things up to the states. The court
EP>        have generally held that the Second Amendment only restricts th
EP>        Federal Government; not the states. I don't agree, BTW; "shall
EP>        not be infringed" seems pretty clear. Ernie P.
EP>___
Not, quite, Ernie.
Originally, the Bill of Rights applied only to the Federal Government, which 
is why many of the states wrote the same guarantees into their state 
constitutions. It was only after the passage of the 14th Amendment that 
the guarantees of the of the Bill of Rights, through the principle of
Incorporation, was applied to limit the powers of states. This principle was 
not thoroughly enunciated by the Court until quite recently, after most of 
the RTKBA cases were decided.
 
Brooks Gelfand           gelfand@failurea.fail.com 
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