Yeah, uh, FU Justice John Paul Stephens...

if this SCJ is right about his interpretation of the 2A, what does "...the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." mean?

Gotta love politicized judges imposing their ideology on the population.

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He was getting sucked off n PBS Newshour yesterday

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Never watch that leftists channel. Sooo disgusted that a portion of our tax dollars go to that propaganda machine...

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FU Justice John Paul Stephens..

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I read that POS “article” yesterday. Stunning in his ignorance.

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if this SCJ is right about his interpretation of the 2A, what does "...the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." mean?

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I think it means the people have a right to form a militia independent of any federal army. I have no doubt the 2nd amendment as envisioned at the time was focused on this idea and not on a person's right to carry a firearm around town.

You have to put yourself in the times and into the mindset of the founders back then. The British monarchs had a long history of disarming certain populations to keep them under control (even before America was settled). For instance, in 1688 King James II was deposed by a rebellion (called the "Glorious Revolution") because he as a Catholic was stripping Protestants of certain rights. One of the rights James took away (from protestants) was the right to bear arms. He was especially hard on Irish protestants.

After the Revolution a "Bill of Rights" was written that sounded a lot like the Bill of Rights that would be enshrined in the American constitution a hundred years later. Here's some of the rights outlines in the English Bill of Rights of 1689:

1) Protestants have the right to bear arms. (Our 2nd amendment)

2) People have the right to "petition the King" without fear of prosecution. (Our 1st amendment)

3) The King is forbidden from keeping a standing army without the consent of Parliament. (Not in our Bill of Rights, but it was a major complaint of the founders. The checks and balances of our government are there partly for this reason).

4) That freedom of speech and debates in Parliament "ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament." (Similar to our 1st amendment)

5) Excessive bail is forbidden (Our 8th amendment).

6) Cruel and unusual punishment is forbidden. (Our 8th amendment)

7) Levying money without the consent of Parliament is illegal. (Similar to the "Power of the Purse" of U.S. Congress).

Anyway, with all that history aside, I must say I mostly agree with Stephens here. However, I do think an individual (independent of any militia) has a right to own a firearm. I don't think the founders would have any problem with that. But I also don't think they'd be crazy zealots who would allow citizens to own tanks, RPG's, and F-35's. I think they were fine with certain laws limiting certain firearms for public safety.

Again, I think they were more concerned with some rogue King (or president) declaring martial law as Kings in England used to do. I don't think the founders were as concerned about who can own what handgun or rifle. I suspect they would be fine with local municipalities making laws suitable for the area. They just didn't want citizen's militias to be impeded by law in any way and wanted to avoid any large scale confiscation of firearms.

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When I joined the Supreme Court in 1975, both state and federal judges accepted the Court’s unanimous decision in United States v. Miller as having established that the Second Amendment’s protection of the right to bear arms was possessed only by members of the militia and applied only to weapons used by the militia.

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10 U.S. Code §?246. Militia: composition and classes

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(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
(b) The classes of the militia are—
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.

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so John Paul Stevens wants to take guns away from women, anyone over 45, and non-citizens?

Hey John Paul...



Molon Labe you fricking bitch.