Posted by
JayPeriod on Thursday, June 26, 2008 11:03:33 AM
Today, the Supreme Court finally ruled that the Founding Fathers meant what they said when it upheld the 2nd Amendment as a personal right. In a 5-4 ruling, they overturned the gun ban in Washington, D.C., the strictest in the US. The ruling means that our Founding Fathers really meant to endow the right to protect ourselves on us, not the government.
It only makes sense, really. The Founding Fathers were really against a centralizing of powers. In that, they gave us three branches of government and a Constitution that specifically divided those powers and gave the majority of rights to us, the people. In letter after letter from the Fathers, they stated their distrust of centralized government and their concern should that government become too powerful. Today, the Supreme Court delivered a victory, not only to us, but also to those Fathers.
Of interest, though, is the dissent of Justice Stevens in which he thought, surely, the Founding Fathers wanted to make sure the government had the right to regulate gun ownership. I'm not sure which Constitution he's reading (hard to tell these days with all the "international" law woven into liberal decisions) or which Founders he's referring to. Many letters, specifically from Jefferson, expressed concern for the central government growing too powerful and the need for the people to be armed to prevent that power from becoming absolute. I guess a letter from a Founder doesn't carry any weight in decisions. Oops, except for a letter written by Jefferson in which the idea of separation of church and state is taken out of context and misinterpreted.
Hopefully this ruling, after the botched one on child rapists yesterday, will put the SCOTUS back on track. I doubt it, though.