[Diddle E. Squat]

What a coincidence. A journalist with the name Greenhouse working for the New York Times. Certainly not an indicator of any liberal bias, no?

[Nathan _in_Arkansas]

It's about time someonw understands what "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed," means. And just think, the DumbocRATS didn't want this guy because of his "extreme" view of the 2nd Amendment. Way to go Bush, Ashcroft, and Co. Hooah!!!

[coloradan]

The current position of the United States, however, is that the Second Amendment more broadly protects the rights of individuals ... to possess and bear their own firearms, subject to reasonable restrictions designed to ... restrict the possession of types of firearms that are particularly suited to criminal misuse.

How often are machine guns used in crimes? Essentially never. Who does use them regularly? Jackbooted thugs kicking down the doors of citizens at 3 AM. If they are particularly suited for criminal use, why do the police have them?

[11B3]

WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!

Take that, liberal gun-grabbing scum!!!

[Sir Gawain]

±

[Wild Irish Rogue]

How does this compute, in the Bush is a liberal camp?

[Huck]

When GWB is signing the gigantic porkfest known as the Farm Bill, or when reflecting on his signing of the Kennedy Education plan, or the Turn the 1st Amendment Upside Down Act (aka Campaign Finance Reform), and election time comes around, and the libertarians and Constitution Party loyalists, and the pitchforkers, and everyone else is saying there is no difference between the parties, I will try to remember not so small matters like this one, so that as distasteful as popular GOP leadership can be (after all, if it weren't distasteful, it wouldn't be popular), it is better than having a Democrat in office, and those ARE still the only two viable choices.

[11th Earl of Mar]

I thought there was no difference between Bush and Clinton. First, Bush 'unsigns' the UN treaty on the world court, secondly Bush's Justice Department is making pro-Second Amendment arguments before the Supreme Court.

Wassup with that?

[William Tell]

From the article: "He said that even accepting an individual right to bear arms, the application of the laws at issue in both cases reflected the kind of narrowly tailored restrictions by which that right could reasonably be limited. Consequently, there was no warrant for the court to take either case, the briefs said."

This won't work. The machine gun is clearly of a type which is useful to a militia. Suggesting that one may disarm the militia because criminals might find firearms useful is ridiculous and certainly not a narrow limitation, given that virtually every soldier is trained and equipped with such a firearm.

Furthermore, the limitations on machineguns are written as tax laws granting the government the power to refuse to accept the tax. That is ridiculous treatment of a Constitutional right. There are some interesting decisions ahead.

[hopespringseternal]

Solicitor General Olson urged the Supreme Court to turn down both appeals. He said that even accepting an individual right to bear arms, the application of the laws at issue in both cases reflected the kind of narrowly tailored restrictions by which that right could reasonably be limited.

So, the Justice Department's position is that the 2nd ammendment means what it says until they don't want it to.

The thing the antis miss with their hang up on "militia" is that even if that is a collective expression, it explicitly 1) recognizes an individual RIGHT and 2) forbids its infringement. That is, the individual right is the implementation of the collective state right.

Of course, states don't have rights, only powers. The 2nd recognizes the power of the states to have a militia by acknowledging the right of the people of the states to keep and bear arms.

[dd5339]

OOORRAHHH!

This is outstanding news! Way to go for the Attorney General!

Semper Fi!

[onedoug]

What does the NRA say? Enforce existing laws? They're virtually ALL unconstitutional.

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

Bump for later reading.How can they do this no matter what it is?

[GalvestonBeachcomber]

Now, review the commerce clause.

[Kermit]

"The Supreme Court's view has been that the the Second Amendment protected only those rights that have "some reasonable relationship to the preservation of efficiency of a well regulated militia," as the court put it in United States v. Miller, a 1939 decision that remains the court's latest word on the subject."

This of course upholds the individual rights "Standard Model" of the Second Amendment. In the Miller case, btw Miller wasn't represented, dealt with outlawing sawed-off shotguns. The Supreme Court wanted to know, how sawed-off shotguns had any military utility and therefore would be legal. Miller, being unrepresented, presented no evidence of such use, therefore the Court ruled against Miller. There would have ruled the other way, if they had been presented with the evidence that sawed-off shotguns, aka 'trenchguns' were used just 20 years previously in WWI trench warfare.

[justshutupandtakeit]

How could this be? I am told all Republicans and RATS are just the same freedom-hating anti-Constitutionalists.

Could that be a Bill of Goods?

[itzmygun]

Little more can reasonably be aimed at, with respect to the people at large, than to have them properly armed and equipped.

Alexander Hamilton, 29th Federalist Paper (from his argument that everyone could not be in the militia, but everyone should be armed).

[The Wizard]

next stop, federal carry permits......If I can carry a concealed weapon in New York, I should be able to carry it anywhere.

[MCRD]

I wonder if John Ashcroft had beat the widow Carnahan if Pres. Bush would have found someone as strong as Ashcroft is on the 2nd Amendment and if he did would that person have been confirmed. The libertarians on this forum can bitch and moan all they want about Pres. Bush but if he (and Ashcroft) are willing to fight hard for the 2nd Amendment then they have done enough for me! 10X BANG

[BOBTHENAILER]

Check this one out and tell all these good folks how the republicans have sold us out.