What the "right to bear arms" really means
14 years, 2 months ago

What the "right to bear arms" really means

Salon  

The public debate over gun policy has fallen into a somewhat predictable pattern. Proposals for new gun regulation are made, prompting push-back from gun rights advocates, who circle their wagons, issue warnings about the threats to our Second Amendment rights, and -- in a more recent twist -- begin calling for a relaxation of existing gun regulation so that citizens can more easily defend themselves. The future of gun policy in America rests on two incontrovertible facts: Guns are deeply rooted in American culture, and guns have always been subject to robust regulation. This is where the new research on guns in America offers some hope -- if, that is, we can summon the political will as a people to enact any new gun laws. The advantage of this new economic model is it acknowledges gun owners' rights and restricts new policies to those likely to produce a reasonable effect without imposing a significant burden on gun owners.

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History of this topic

A Conservative Giant Just Gave the Supreme Court Reason to Uphold Youth Gun Bans
55 years, 2 months ago

A Conservative Giant Just Gave the Supreme Court Reason to Uphold Youth Gun Bans

Slate  

Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. SCOTUS has instructed lower courts to uphold firearm regulations that comport with the nation’s “history and tradition.” And in 1791, when the Second Amendment was ratified, people under age 21 were considered legal minors with virtually no rights themselves, …

Donald Trump Shooting: Debate Around Gun Ownership In US, And States That Have Banned Firearms — EXPLAINED
8 months, 2 weeks ago

Donald Trump Shooting: Debate Around Gun Ownership In US, And States That Have Banned Firearms — EXPLAINED

ABP News  

The visuals of a defiant Donald Trump -- pumping his fist in the air, with blood on his face -- as he was rushed off the stage by the Secret Service after an "assassination attempt", has once again brought the focus back on rampant gun violence in the United States of America. Hours before the shooting at Trump's rally, US …

The Supreme Court’s Major Gun Decision Was A Warning To Extremist Judges
9 months, 1 week ago

The Supreme Court’s Major Gun Decision Was A Warning To Extremist Judges

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING The Supreme Court’s decision Friday to uphold a 30-year-old law barring domestic abusers from possessing guns came as no surprise. Bill Clark via Getty Images The ruling marked the first time the Supreme Court has offered its take on gun rights since Justice Clarence Thomas penned a sweeping reinterpretation of the Second Amendment two years ago, in …

Opinion: By keeping guns away from domestic abusers, the justices set an example for other courts
9 months, 1 week ago

Opinion: By keeping guns away from domestic abusers, the justices set an example for other courts

LA Times  

The justices affirmed that the federal government and states can continue to restrain gun rights in some ways. The Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday finally brought common sense to analyzing gun rights under the 2nd Amendment. The court’s holding should be noncontroversial: A person can be prohibited from having a gun “once a court has found that represents a credible …

Strong ammunition to obliterate the NRA agenda
1 year, 4 months ago

Strong ammunition to obliterate the NRA agenda

Raw Story  

Women battered at home are five times more likely to be murdered if there’s a gun in the house, so abusers under domestic violence restraining orders, pursuant to federal law, can’t have guns. Coloring within the lines of Clarence Thomas’ ridiculous 2022 Bruen test, the appeals court ruled in Rahimi that the federal law keeping guns from people under restraining …

The NRA's toxic fuel: When racism and guns unite
1 year, 6 months ago

The NRA's toxic fuel: When racism and guns unite

Salon  

There's been another mass shooting, this time in Jacksonville, Florida. As Chief Justice Warren Burger observed: The gun lobby's interpretation of the Second Amendment is one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word fraud, on the American people by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime… The real purpose of the Second Amendment …

Gun owners: It's time for us to stand up against the Second Amendment death culture
1 year, 6 months ago

Gun owners: It's time for us to stand up against the Second Amendment death culture

Salon  

As a resident of Florida, I have carried a concealed firearm almost everywhere for years, everywhere, except where it's specifically prohibited by law or by the policies of a specific business. We need your help to stay independent Subscribe today to support Salon's progressive journalism Responsible gun owners: Are you OK with child sacrifice? I don't actually believe most Republican …

Appeals court rules against longstanding drug user gun ban cited in Hunter Biden case
1 year, 7 months ago

Appeals court rules against longstanding drug user gun ban cited in Hunter Biden case

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court has ruled that drug users shouldn’t automatically be banned from having guns, marking the latest sign of upheaval in the nation’s firearm legal landscape and raising questions about a law cited in the case against Hunter Biden. The appeals court cited the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision known as New York State Rifle & …

Key gun control measure in the crosshairs at US Supreme Court
1 year, 8 months ago

Key gun control measure in the crosshairs at US Supreme Court

Firstpost  

Rahimi challenged his conviction on the grounds that the law violated the Constitution’s Second Amendment “right to keep and bear arms,” and won. Biden’s administration has appealed The U.S. Supreme Court, which last year expanded gun rights in a landmark ruling, is set to return to the issue in a major case testing whether a law that keeps firearms away …

Column: We marked the Fourth of July in an exceptionally American way: with a hail of gun violence
1 year, 8 months ago

Column: We marked the Fourth of July in an exceptionally American way: with a hail of gun violence

LA Times  

Mementos and candles are seen at a memorial for a victim of a fatal July 3 mass shooting in Philadelphia. “Americans choose differently.” In fact, Americans do not choose differently: Eight out of 10 registered voters, including most Republicans, want criminal background and mental health checks for all gun buyers; a minimum age of 21 and a 30-day waiting period …

US appeals court says people convicted of nonviolent offenses shouldn’t face lifetime gun ban
1 year, 9 months ago

US appeals court says people convicted of nonviolent offenses shouldn’t face lifetime gun ban

Associated Press  

PHILADELPHIA — A U.S. appeals court ruled Tuesday that nonviolent offenders should not be subject to lifetime gun bans, the latest fallout from a recent Supreme Court decision that instructs judges to look to history and tradition to weigh the constitutionality of gun control laws. “Range remains one of ‘the people’ protected by the Second Amendment, and his eligibility to …

After Supreme Court ruling, it’s open season on US gun laws
2 years, 7 months ago

After Supreme Court ruling, it’s open season on US gun laws

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruling expanding gun rights threatens to upend firearms restrictions across the country as activists wage court battles over everything from bans on AR-15-style guns to age limits. “The gun rights movement has been given a weapon of mass destruction, and it will annihilate approximately 75% of the gun laws eventually,” said Evan Nappen, a New …

Second Amendment: What the Supreme Court’s new gun rights ruling means
2 years, 9 months ago

Second Amendment: What the Supreme Court’s new gun rights ruling means

CNN  

CNN — Justice Clarence Thomas opened the floodgates for all sorts of gun safety laws to be challenged in federal court. “Despite the popularity of this two-step approach, it is one step too many,” Thomas wrote Thursday, calling the second step inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s previous gun rights precedents. Courts are required to “assess whether modern firearms regulations are …

Op-Ed: Forget history. Forget safety. The Supreme Court prizes unfettered gun rights above all else
2 years, 9 months ago

Op-Ed: Forget history. Forget safety. The Supreme Court prizes unfettered gun rights above all else

LA Times  

After the recent mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, N.Y., and so many other places, it is deeply distressing that the Supreme Court on Thursday dramatically expanded gun rights and limited the ability of the government to prevent gun violence. In a 6-3 decision, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, the court declared unconstitutional a New York law that limited …

Op-Ed: ‘To bear arms’ didn’t always mean what today’s pro-gun crowd thinks
2 years, 9 months ago

Op-Ed: ‘To bear arms’ didn’t always mean what today’s pro-gun crowd thinks

LA Times  

Antique dueling pistols, on view at the Grange, the home of Alexander Hamilton in New York. The 2nd Amendment, ratified in 1791, reads: “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.” Responsible readings of this sentence note that it locates gun …

The Case For Supporting A Teeny Tiny Deal On Guns
2 years, 9 months ago

The Case For Supporting A Teeny Tiny Deal On Guns

Huff Post  

This article is part of HuffPost’s biweekly politics newsletter. But this past week, the two reacted very differently to news of an emerging bipartisan compromise that includes a series of incremental steps — like federal support for state “red flag” laws and funding for mental health services — assembled and agreed to in the wake of last month’s elementary school …

Red flag laws, not gun control, are the way to stop mass shootings, proponent says
2 years, 9 months ago

Red flag laws, not gun control, are the way to stop mass shootings, proponent says

NPR  

Red flag laws, not gun control, are the way to stop mass shootings, proponent says NPR's Rachel Martin talks to David French, senior editor of The Dispatch, about the Second Amendment and calls for red flag laws, following mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y., and Uvalde, Texas. DAVID FRENCH: Red flag laws are laws that allow a person - such as …

Debate Around Gun Laws In US And Who Are Opposing Gun Control Measures - News18
2 years, 10 months ago

Debate Around Gun Laws In US And Who Are Opposing Gun Control Measures - News18

News 18  

As US president Joe Biden took to the podium in the White House briefing room and addressed the nation in the aftermath of the Uvalde school shooting in Texas, he urged citizens to ‘stand up to the’ powerful pro-gun lobby. In reality, acting on gun laws and bringing legislation that would control the sale and purchase of guns is a …

Supreme Court seems poised to expand Second Amendment rights and strike down NY handgun law
3 years, 4 months ago

Supreme Court seems poised to expand Second Amendment rights and strike down NY handgun law

CNN  

CNN — The Supreme Court seemed ready to expand Second Amendment rights after hearing arguments for over two hours and expressing skepticism about a New York law that restricts individuals from carrying concealed handguns outside the home for self-defense. Residents must show that they have a great need for the license and that they face a “special or unique danger …

NRA’s gun rights message not slowed by legal, money troubles
3 years, 9 months ago

NRA’s gun rights message not slowed by legal, money troubles

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — Liberals have cheered the highly public legal and financial jeopardy ensnaring the National Rifle Association, seeing the gun lobby’s potential demise as the path to stricter firearms laws. “Democrats who support universal background checks are winning all over the country, including in states where you would have thought the NRA had a stranglehold.” One of Biden’s first executive …

Justice Department unveils two anti-gun violence proposals after another violent weekend
3 years, 9 months ago

Justice Department unveils two anti-gun violence proposals after another violent weekend

CNN  

CNN — Attorney General Merrick Garland unveiled Monday two proposals meant to help curb gun violence, an announcement that comes after another violent weekend. Here’s what is driving the surge The makeshift short-barreled rifles were used in two mass shootings in Boulder, Colorado, and in Dayton, Ohio, a Justice Department official told CNN on Monday. Last month, the Justice Department …

Supreme Court To Take Up 1st Major Gun Rights Case In More Than A Decade
3 years, 11 months ago

Supreme Court To Take Up 1st Major Gun Rights Case In More Than A Decade

NPR  

Supreme Court To Take Up 1st Major Gun Rights Case In More Than A Decade Enlarge this image toggle caption J. Scott Applewhite/AP J. Scott Applewhite/AP In a major foray into gun rights, the Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review a case testing how far states may go in regulating whether an individual may carry a gun outside the …

Editorial: Biden should make gun-violence reduction a national priority
4 years ago

Editorial: Biden should make gun-violence reduction a national priority

LA Times  

A curious thing happened last year while the nation endured a string of COVID-19 lockdowns. Since the initial COVID-19 shutdowns last March, Americans have engaged in gun-buying sprees — by existing gun owners and tens of thousands of first-time purchasers — driven by fear of social breakdown from the pandemic, the widespread anti-racism protests, and the storming of the U.S. …

The tide is turning for gun control in the US
5 years, 6 months ago

The tide is turning for gun control in the US

Al Jazeera  

While public attitudes on the gun crisis are changing, much needs to be done to stop gun violence in the US. For now, the movement for gun control still appears to be focused on half measures, such as universal background checks, that are grossly inadequate to address the scourge of gun violence in the US. Other businesses have followed suit, …

Parkland student: When a book drops or a siren wails, we remember that day (Opinion)
6 years, 1 month ago

Parkland student: When a book drops or a siren wails, we remember that day (Opinion)

CNN  

Editor’s Note: Sari Kaufman is a junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and a volunteer leader with Students Demand Action. One state legislator told me that we were “naive to think that a gun reform bill would ever pass in Florida.” Not even a month later, our Legislature passed the state’s first piece of proactive gun safety legislation in …

It’s past time to talk about gun control -- Larry White
6 years, 10 months ago

It’s past time to talk about gun control -- Larry White

Associated Press  

I continue to scratch my old gray head over the issue of assault weapons. If you listen to the National Rifle Association’s drumbeat message, banning assault weapons would shred the Constitution and lead to a ban of all firearms. After nine years in the U.S. Army, I’m no stranger to guns, including assault weapons. The NRA claims passage of any …

What is the Second Amendment and why can the 'right to bear arms' cause so much argument and debate?
7 years ago

What is the Second Amendment and why can the 'right to bear arms' cause so much argument and debate?

The Independent  

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Each American mass shooting in recent history has been followed …

Five types of gun laws the Founding Fathers loved
7 years, 5 months ago

Five types of gun laws the Founding Fathers loved

Salon  

The Second Amendment is one of the most frequently cited provisions in the American Constitution, but also one of the most poorly understood. Gun rights supporters – mostly, but not exclusively, on the right – seem to believe that the Second Amendment prohibits many forms of gun regulation. #1: Registration Today American gun rights advocates typically oppose any form of …

Gun control and history: It's never been about the Second Amendment
7 years, 5 months ago

Gun control and history: It's never been about the Second Amendment

Salon  

In a 2016 infomercial recently unearthed by NBC's Chuck Todd, President Donald Trump's eldest son can be seen testing out a silencer on several guns, then waxing poetic about the importance of the Second Amendment. Twenty years later, however, a higher court in Arkansas ruled in the case of State v. Buzzard that "the words 'a well regulated militia being …

The Democratic sit-in over gun control is destined to fail
8 years, 9 months ago

The Democratic sit-in over gun control is destined to fail

The Independent  

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Democrats Occupy House of Representatives and …

Aiming to drive down gun deaths? Put these three laws on the books, researchers say
9 years ago

Aiming to drive down gun deaths? Put these three laws on the books, researchers say

LA Times  

Background checks on those purchasing ammunition, if implemented alongside two other measures, might drive down gun deaths by 90%, says a new study. Study leader Bindu Kalesan, a quantitative social researcher at Boston University, said the effort was the first to rigorously examine the impact of specific gun laws on gun-related deaths across the United States. “The findings suggest that …

Can we have gun rights and safety? (Opinion)
9 years, 6 months ago

Can we have gun rights and safety? (Opinion)

CNN  

Editor’s Note: Cedric L. Alexander is a CNN law enforcement analyst and director of public safety at the DeKalb County Police Department in Georgia. Story highlights Cedric Alexander: We need to balance the constitutional right to bear arms with the need to reduce the toll taken by gun violence Laws help frustrate the effort to keep guns out of the …

This is our new Constitution: How we fix gun rights, the Supreme Court, inequality -- and foster true democracy
10 years, 5 months ago

This is our new Constitution: How we fix gun rights, the Supreme Court, inequality -- and foster true democracy

Salon  

We talk a lot about inequality these days. Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice John Paul Stevens made headlines earlier this year by suggesting the addition of five simple words to the Second Amendment in order to better express its late-eighteenth-century meaning: “A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right to keep and bear arms …

Study takes new look at gun access and risk of homicide, suicide
11 years, 2 months ago

Study takes new look at gun access and risk of homicide, suicide

LA Times  

People who have ready access to a firearm are almost twice as likely to be killed and three times likelier to commit suicide than those without a gun available in the home or from a neighbor or friend, a new study has concluded. Though men and women with firearm access were about equally likely to take their own lives with …

America’s gun madness
12 years, 3 months ago

America’s gun madness

The Hindu  

We will never know what demons haunted Adam Lanza’s mind when he walked into his old school in Newtown and killed 20 children and six adults — among them his mother. Ever since 1982, as a careful mapping exercise by Mother Jones shows, there have been at least 62 mass murders — defined as acts that claimed four or more …

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