Posted on 02/19/2008 7:35:11 PM PST by djf
Secy of State Brad Johnson of Montana delivered a letter to the Washington Times about possible outcomes of the Heller decision.
Second Amendment an individual right
The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide D.C. v. Heller, the first case in more than 60 years in which the court will confront the meaning of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Although Heller is about the constitutionality of the D.C. handgun ban, the court's decision will have an impact far beyond the District ("Promises breached," Op-Ed, Thursday).
The court must decide in Heller whether the Second Amendment secures a right for individuals to keep and bear arms or merely grants states the power to arm their militias, the National Guard. This latter view is called the "collective rights" theory.
A collective rights decision by the court would violate the contract by which Montana entered into statehood, called the Compact With the United States and archived at Article I of the Montana Constitution. When Montana and the United States entered into this bilateral contract in 1889, the U.S. approved the right to bear arms in the Montana Constitution, guaranteeing the right of "any person" to bear arms, clearly an individual right.
There was no assertion in 1889 that the Second Amendment was susceptible to a collective rights interpretation, and the parties to the contract understood the Second Amendment to be consistent with the declared Montana constitutional right of "any person" to bear arms.
As a bedrock principle of law, a contract must be honored so as to give effect to the intent of the contracting parties. A collective rights decision by the court in Heller would invoke an era of unilaterally revisable contracts by violating the statehood contract between the United States and Montana, and many other states.
Numerous Montana lawmakers have concurred in a resolution raising this contract-violation issue. It's posted at progunleaders.org. The United States would do well to keep its contractual promise to the states that the Second Amendment secures an individual right now as it did upon execution of the statehood contract.
BRAD JOHNSON Montana secretary of state Helena, Mont. Montana, the Second Amendment and D.C. v. Heller
I moved to Montana for just this reason. Just keep the Rainbow Libs, and RINOs out. Sadly the libs have discovered central Montana. They think Flathead Lake is wonderful. The locals are not so impressed.
Semper Paratus!
Gunner
I guess I’ll enjoy living in Montana...
Let’s not forget Nevada...The Sierras make a nice defensible barrier on the West....
One word! Wonderful! Big Sky, Big Mountain, simply wonderful!
Gunner
Interesting. Have they filed and amicus brief? It could make a difference. If they haven’t it’s all talk.
Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah.
That should be big enough...
Don’t forget Eastern Wa.
It’s one way to get rid of McInsane. :p
Probably will take a state like Montana to secede to get the Federal Govt back to its Constitutional roots
Doubt the Feds would invade to assert Federal law. Not enough troops available w Middle East and other obligations. Also the logistics of launching a Federal incursion into MT would make such action nearly prohibitive
And right there is the real reason for the 2nd Amendment. It isn't a catch 22, really. More like a catch 21.5.
Plus, merely stating “Guess we’re a Territory now” and handing a bill over for ten thousand head of horses for the deputies as provided by law would shock some people into thinking “Hmm”. Plus, it’d be funnier and more loyal.
I would think that people all over might get a little disturbed if they were watching CNN and saw the federal government launching RPG’s at the Montana State capitol.
New double-wide at 100k, 100 acres at 10K per acre, so around $1.1 million, at least where I live.
We’ll take Nevada, but not if Clark County and Harry Reid come along. ;)
Just get in touch with the EU. They’’ll give you some pointers.
Woo hoo!!
Big City
Merle Haggard
I’m tired of this dirty old city.
Entirely too much work and never enough play.
And I’m tired of these dirty old sidewalks.
Think I’ll walk off my steady job today.
Turn me loose, set me free, somewhere in the middle of Montanna.
And gimme all I got comin’ to me,
And keep your retirement and your so called social security.
Big City turn me loose and set me free.
Been working everyday since I was twenty.
Haven’t got a thing to show for anything I’ve done.
There’s folks who never work and they’ve got plenty.
Think it’s time some guys like me had some fun.
Turn me loose, set me free, somewhere in the middle of Montanna.
And gimme all I got comin’ to me,
And keep your retirement and your so called social security.
Big City turn me loose and set me free.
They don't care if it is an individual right or not so long as they can continue to enacted "reasonable restriction"
The Supremes are gonna toss us a bone and conservatives are gonna get excited, but the real outcome is that reasonable restriction will still be inplace.
The sheep will be placated and that's the end of that.
Just so nobody misunderstands, I for one am totally committed to saving the whole Union, and restoring respect for the unalienable rights to life and liberty on every square inch of American territory.
Let the anti-American tyrants move to Siberia or something.
Montana has finally figured out a way to become densely populated?
And it’s right next door...
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