by Chris Alexion, Copyright August 26, 2005, all rights reserved. 287 views
How many times do we end up with bad answers because we began with an improperly-framed question? One example of misleading premises leading to false conclusions shows up in the gun control debate. "So, does the Second Amendment provide an individual or state right to bear arms?"
But isn't the correct question whether any amendment (or section of the Constutition) sets forth a federal responsibility to control arms? The Constitution isn't a document prescribing and limiting the rights of citizens, but one defining and bounding the role of government. The Bill of Rights must not be read as a list of what we may or may not do. Rather, it originated as a last-minute check on what anti-federalists like Patrick Henry perceived as dangerous ambiguity in the constitutional text. So where do we find a right to own guns in the Constitution? Amendment X, for starters, which makes it clear that the rights not clearly yielded to the federal government are reserved "to the states respectively, or to the people."
1 • Daniel Lewis • August 31, 2005 • 10:25 AM
"The Constitution is [a document] defining and bounding the role of government."
Pardon me if I'm splitting hairs here, but the Constitution only defines and bounds the role of the federal government and role of the states with respect to the federal government. It does not define government in the general sense and it in fact is careful not limit the powers of the states, except to act as separate nations. The state and local governments are subject to their own constitutions and governing documents.
Very good point about asking the right question, though!
2 • Daniel Lewis • August 31, 2005 • 10:26 AM
Here is a good qoute on the scope of the bill of rights. In Barron vs. Baltimore (1833) the Supreme Court said, "The fifth amendment must be understood as restraining the power of the general government, not as applicable to the states."
Read more at http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_bor.html
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