April 1995	Women & Guns

Parting  Shots ...
	
	The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution passed
by the Congress on September 25, 1789 and ratified on December 15,
1791 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."

	This right was considered so important that it was preceded
only by freedom of speech, press, and religion in the Bill of Rights.

	Our Founding Fathers were deeply concerned that the government
that they were creating be held in check and that the potential for
abuses and tyranny be curtailed.

	George Mason said during the debates on the Constitution, "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."

	James Madison, author of the Second Amendment, said it most
clearly. The Constitution must preserve "the advantage of being armed
over the people of almost every other nation...(where) the
government's are afraid to trust the people with arms."

	Thomas Jefferson wrote in his Virginia Constitution of 1776,
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of Arms.."

	Samuel Adams stated during ratification, "The Constitution
shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States
who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms."

	George Washington said, "Firearms stand next in importance to
the Constitution itself. They are the American people's liberty teeth
and keystone under independence..."

	While the Second Amendment is the owner that gun rights
advocates naturally refer to, there are three other Amendments that
also reflect the individual right to keep and bear arms. They are the
Fourth, Ninth and Fourteenth.

	The Ninth Amendment reads "The enumeration in the Constitution
of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others
retained by the people." It is protection of certain common-law rights
which are not specifically spelled out in the Constitution. This
includes the individual right to defense of self and property.

	The Fourth Amendment protects us from unreasonable search and
seizure. This right is routinely violated by government officials in
the name of public good.

	The Fourteenth Amendment provides, in part, "No state shall
make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or
immunities of Citizens of the United States; nor shall any state
deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process
of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws."  This was passed after the Civil War to
ensure the rights of all citizens regardless of race, religion, or
origin. During the debates in Congress, the right to keep and bear
arms by individuals was often cited as a reason for enacting the
Amendment.

	There have been four decisions by the United States Supreme
Court regarding the right to keep and bear arms.

	In U.S. v. Cuikshank (1876) the court recognized that the
individual right to keep and bear arms existed in common law prior to
the Constitution. The Court wrote the right is not "in any manor
dependent upon the instrument for its existence..."

	In U.S. v. Presser the year before, the Court stated that the
Second Amendment protected the individual right to keep and bear arms
from infringement by Congress. It added, "The states cannot...prohibit
the people from keeping and bearing arms...for maintaining the public
security and disable the people from performing their duty."

	In U.S. v. Miller in 1939, the Supreme Court made it clear
that the militia consisted of "all males physically capable of acting
in concert for the common defense."

	In U.S. v. Verdugo-Urquirdez, the Court held that "the people"
in the Second Amendment had the same meaning as in the Preamble to the
Constitution and the First, Fourth and Ninth Amendments. There is no
question that it is an individual right of all Americans.

	It is important to look at the basis of our Freedom. It is
sometimes argued that the Constitution is over 200 years old and no
longer relevant to life today.

	When our Founding Fathers wrote the First Amendment protecting
the freedom of the press, they could not envision what it would
encompass today. The argument that the Second Amendment was meant to
apply only to the armaments of the eighteenth century is equivalent of
arguing that the electronic media is not entitled to First Amendment
protection.

	It is not possible to be selective about the Constitution.
There is no right that can be infringed without weakening all other
rights. This is crucial to realize when responding to the violence
that pervades our lives.

P.S. If you would like a copy of the U.S. Constitution, please send me
a SASE at the Second Amendment Foundation, 12500 N.E. Tenth Place,
Bellevue, WA 98005.

	My salutes to my three esses. To AMG, thanks for ROGO.