{"id":7957,"date":"2022-05-27T14:53:54","date_gmt":"2022-05-27T14:53:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=7957"},"modified":"2022-05-27T14:53:54","modified_gmt":"2022-05-27T14:53:54","slug":"americas-unique-enduring-gun-problem-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=7957","title":{"rendered":"America\u2019s unique, enduring gun problem, explained"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“In 2008, the Supreme Court effectively wrote NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre\u2019s \u201cgood guy with a gun\u201d theory into the Constitution. The Court\u2019s 5-4 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller<\/em><\/a> (2008) was the first Supreme Court decision in American history to hold that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm. But it also went much further than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heller<\/em> held that one of the primary purposes of the Second Amendment is to protect the right of individuals \u2014 good guys with a gun, in LaPierre\u2019s framework \u2014 to use firearms to stop bad guys with guns. As Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in Heller<\/em>, an \u201cinherent right of self-defense has been central to the Second Amendment right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a matter of textual interpretation, this holding makes no sense. The Second Amendment provides that \u201ca well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State<\/a>, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We don\u2019t need to guess why the Second Amendment protects a right to firearms because it is right there in the Constitution. The Second Amendment\u2019s purpose is to preserve \u201ca well-regulated Militia,\u201d not to allow individuals to use their weapons for personal self-defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many years, the Supreme Court took the first 13 words of the Second Amendment seriously. As the Court said in United States v. Miller<\/em><\/a>(1939), the \u201cobvious purpose\u201d of the Second Amendment was to \u201crender possible the effectiveness\u201d of militias. And thus the amendment must be \u201cinterpreted and applied with that end in view.\u201d Heller<\/em> abandoned that approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heller<\/em> also reached another important policy conclusion. Handguns, according to Scalia, are \u201coverwhelmingly chosen\u201d by gun owners who wish to carry a firearm for self-defense. For this reason, he wrote, handguns enjoy a kind of super-legal status. Lawmakers are not allowed to ban what Scalia described as \u201cthe most preferred firearm in the nation to \u2018keep\u2019 and use for protection of one\u2019s home and family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This declaration regarding handguns matters because this easily concealed weapon is responsible for far more deaths than any other weapon in the United States \u2014 and it isn\u2019t close. In 2019, for example, a total of 13,927 people were murdered in the US<\/a>, according to the FBI. Of these murder victims, at least 6,368 \u2014 just over 45 percent \u2014 were killed by handguns.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is likely, moreover, that the Supreme Court is going to make it even harder for federal and state lawmakers to combat gun violence very soon.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The future of firearm regulation looks grim for anyone who believes that the government should help protect us from gun violence.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/23142734\/uvalde-mass-shooting-gun-violence-control<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“In 2008, the Supreme Court effectively wrote NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre\u2019s \u201cgood guy with a gun\u201d theory into the Constitution. The Court\u2019s 5-4 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) was the first Supreme Court decision in American history to hold that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm. But it also went much further than that.
\nHeller held that one of the primary purposes of the Second Amendment is to protect the right of individuals \u2014 good guys with a gun, in LaPierre\u2019s framework \u2014 to use firearms to stop bad guys with guns. As Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in Heller, an \u201cinherent right of self-defense has been central to the Second Amendment right.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a matter of textual interpretation, this holding makes no sense. The Second Amendment provides that \u201ca 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t need to guess why the Second Amendment protects a right to firearms because it is right there in the Constitution. The Second Amendment\u2019s purpose is to preserve \u201ca well-regulated Militia,\u201d not to allow individuals to use their weapons for personal self-defense.<\/p>\n

For many years, the Supreme Court took the first 13 words of the Second Amendment seriously. As the Court said in United States v. Miller (1939), the \u201cobvious purpose\u201d of the Second Amendment was to \u201crender possible the effectiveness\u201d of militias. And thus the amendment must be \u201cinterpreted and applied with that end in view.\u201d Heller abandoned that approach.<\/p>\n

Heller also reached another important policy conclusion. Handguns, according to Scalia, are \u201coverwhelmingly chosen\u201d by gun owners who wish to carry a firearm for self-defense. For this reason, he wrote, handguns enjoy a kind of super-legal status. Lawmakers are not allowed to ban what Scalia described as \u201cthe most preferred firearm in the nation to \u2018keep\u2019 and use for protection of one\u2019s home and family.\u201d<\/p>\n

This declaration regarding handguns matters because this easily concealed weapon is responsible for far more deaths than any other weapon in the United States \u2014 and it isn\u2019t close. In 2019, for example, a total of 13,927 people were murdered in the US, according to the FBI. Of these murder victims, at least 6,368 \u2014 just over 45 percent \u2014 were killed by handguns.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“It is likely, moreover, that the Supreme Court is going to make it even harder for federal and state lawmakers to combat gun violence very soon.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“The future of firearm regulation looks grim for anyone who believes that the government should help protect us from gun violence.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[53,113,407,112,406,109,470,528,619],"class_list":["post-7957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-deaths","tag-gun-control","tag-gun-deaths","tag-gun-laws","tag-gun-violence","tag-guns","tag-second-amendment","tag-supreme-court","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7957"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7958,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7957\/revisions\/7958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}