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Retired SCOTUS Justice Wants To 'Fix' the Second Amendment

CanHasDIY (1672858) writes "In his yet-to-be-released book, Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution, John Paul Stevens, who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court for 35 years, believes he has the key to stopping the seeming recent spate of mass killings — amend the Constitution to exclude private citizens from armament ownership. Specifically, he recommends adding 5 words to the 2nd Amendment, so that it would read as follows: 'A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms when serving in the Militia shall not be infringed.'

What I find interesting is how Stevens maintains that the Amendment only protects armament ownership for those actively serving in a state or federal military unit, in spite of the fact that the Amendment specifically names 'the People' as a benefactor (just like the First, Fourth, Ninth, and Tenth) and of course, ignoring the traditional definition of the term militia. I'm personally curious about his other 5 suggested changes, but I guess we'll have to wait until the end of April to find out."

7 of 1,633 comments (clear)

  1. Re:But what is a militia? by emag · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's already part of 10 US Code 311 - Militia: composition and classes, last passed in December 2013 by the House and March 2014 by the Senate...

    --
    "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." --H.L. Mencken
  2. Re:The Canadian Exodus.... by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 5, Informative

    Everyone should be armed.

    This is how Switzerland does it. They haven't been in a foreign war in two hundred years. Even Hitler decided not to try it.

    Their crime rate is very low and they actually have a civil defense plan that doesn't involve people hiding in closets and hoping somebody shows up to save them. Plus, obviously they don't need to incur all the costs of foreign wars, so they can run data centers, banking platforms, and ski resorts instead.

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  3. Re:Militia, then vs now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
    Pretty much everything the FBI accused the Branch Dividians of, they were not able to actually produce evidence of.
    No illegal automatic weapons

    No kiddy diddling (the entire reason for the raid).
    The charges that were actually upheld in court related solely to firing on federal officials. Whether or not they were justified is another can of worms.

  4. The Founders themselves said: by DJ+Particle · · Score: 5, Informative

    "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." Thomas Jefferson, proposed Virginia constitution, June 1776. Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334 (C. J. Boyd, Ed., 1950)

    "Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man." Thomas Jefferson, quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria in "On Crimes and Punishment", 1764, pp 87-88.

    "The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms." Samuel Adams, During the Massachusetts U.S. Constitution ratification convention, 1788

    "Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at the individual discretion, in private self-defense." John Adams, A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, 1787-88

    "I ask sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them." George Mason, during Virginia's ratification convention, June 4, 1788 (From J. Elliott, Debates in the General State Conventions 425 (3rd ed. 1937).

    "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. A well regulated militia, composed of the body of people, trained in arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country." James Madison, I Annuals of Congress 434 (June 8, 1789)

    That was almost word for word the phrasing of the 2nd Amendment, which makes our 4th President essentially the author of said amendment. But he also had this further to say in "The Federalist", in which he DEFINES what it means:

    "The Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation where the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." James Madison, The Federalist No. 46

    That last one was straight from the author of the amendment himself....

  5. Re:Militia, then vs now by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well, yeah, raping children and giving them drugs

    Other than unsubstantiated allegations, there is no evidence for that. Some children made statements about abuse, but later retracted those statements and said they were pressured into making them. The FBI and ATF were caught lying about almost every aspect of the standoff, so they have zero credibility.

  6. Re:Militia, then vs now by PortHaven · · Score: 5, Informative

    You really think most of the 1,000 folks there were wealthy?

    You can buy a decent 22 caliber semi-automatic rifle for $100. It's getting hard to do that for a pair of shoes.

  7. Re:Militia, then vs now by PortHaven · · Score: 5, Informative

    Then you need to read more sir.

    If I told you that in order to file your next W2 you had to sign a form. That form stated that from henceforth, you can only earn 10% of what you are currently earning. You refuse to sign, cause that's ridiculous.

    Then I claim the reason we're arresting you is because you failed to pay taxes. BS. You failed to basically be put out of business.

    And please realize this has NOTHING to do with tortoises, just like California Central Valley issue had nothing to do with a tiny fish. This is ALL about water for urban Californian cities. That is why the Federal government used an environmental law to shutdown ranching in a huge portion of Nevada. In order to reduce the water usage so more was available to California.