Proposed change to second amendment
Posted by xthinker88 9 years, 3 months ago to Government
I think the author just doesn't get it.
The founders pretty much botched the 2nd Amendment when they added the preamble. As a legal principle, a preamble to a law only ever comes into play for interpreting the law when the main clause of the law is not clearly written. You cannot get more clearly written in the English language than: The right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Thus the preamble to that clause should never come into play. Just as the preamble to the Constitution is irrelevant to analyzing constitutional issues.
The Pennsylvania Constitution actually did it better:
The right of the citizens to bear arms in defence of themselves and the State shall not be questioned. (Pa. Const. art. I, ยง 21) (1790).
Of course PA's gun laws violate its own constitution but that is a different issue.
The founders pretty much botched the 2nd Amendment when they added the preamble. As a legal principle, a preamble to a law only ever comes into play for interpreting the law when the main clause of the law is not clearly written. You cannot get more clearly written in the English language than: The right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Thus the preamble to that clause should never come into play. Just as the preamble to the Constitution is irrelevant to analyzing constitutional issues.
The Pennsylvania Constitution actually did it better:
The right of the citizens to bear arms in defence of themselves and the State shall not be questioned. (Pa. Const. art. I, ยง 21) (1790).
Of course PA's gun laws violate its own constitution but that is a different issue.
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