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U.S. Department of Justice: Americans Have No Gun
Rights
The Clinton Justice Department has made its position
on the Second
Amendment shockingly plain and clear:
there is no Constitutional right
to buy, sell or own any
firearm, and the government can take weapons
away from you any
time it chooses.
The astonishing remarks came on Tuesday
June 13, during oral arguments
in the case of U.S. v. Emerson in
the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The case involves a
routine restraining order placed on Dr. Timothy
Emerson, issued
while he was going through a divorce. Since 1994,
federal law
has prohibited possession of a firearm by a person under a
restraining order -- even if, as in this case, there is no threat
of
violence.
Dr. Emerson - who was totally
unaware of this obscure federal statute,
as was the judge who
issued the restraining order - was subsequently
arrested for
owning a pistol. He challenged the law. On March 30,
1999, U.S.
District Judge Sam R. Cummings of Lubbock, Texas declared
that
the statute, because it prohibited gun ownership without finding
any threat of violence, violated Dr. Emerson's Second Amendment
right
to own firearms and was thus
unconstitutional.
The U.S. Justice Department appealed, and
the result was one of the
most dramatic gun rights court
arguments in U.S. history.
According to witnesses, Judge
William L. Garwood, the senior judge,
seemed startled by the
government's statist interpretation of the
Second
Amendment.
Here are some excerpts from the oral arguments,
as recorded by
observer (and radio talk show host) Tom
Gresham:
Judge Garwood (to U.S. Department of Justice
attorney Meteja): "You
are saying that the Second Amendment is
consistent with a position
that you can take guns away from the
public? You can restrict
ownership of rifles, pistols and
shotguns from all people? Is that the
position of the United
States?"
U.S. Department of Justice attorney Meteja:
"Yes."
Metaja argued that the Second Amendment only applied
to members of the
National Guard.
Judge
Garwood: "Is it the position of the United States that persons
who are not in the National Guard are afforded no protections
under
the Second Amendment?"
Meteja:
"Exactly."
Meteja added that even members of the National
Guard had Second
Amendment protection only for guns issued or
used in the Guard.
Judge Garwood: "Membership in the
National Guard isn't enough? What
else is
needed?"
Meteja: "The weapon in question must be used in the
National Guard."
Metaja further argued that the federal
government had the right to
regulate guns and gun ownership
because of the interstate commerce
clause of the Constitution.
Because a firearm may have once traveled
across state lines, the
government presumes a gun is somehow involved
in "interstate
commerce," thus giving the federal government
regulatory power
over it.
In response, Judge DeMoss asked, "I have a 16-gauge
shotgun in my
closet at home. I have a 20-gauge shotgun. I also
have a 30-caliber
rifle at home. Are you saying these are 'in or
affecting interstate
commerce?'"
Meteja:
"Yes."
Witnesses say the judges seemed very unimpressed with
the federal
government's arguments. At one point, Judge Robert
M. Parker
commented: "You shouldn't let it bother your sleep
that Judge Garwood
and I, between us, own enough guns to start a
revolution in most South
American
countries."
A ruling can come any time this year, with the
potential to propel the
issue -- including the key question of
whether the Second Amendment does
in fact protect an individual
right to keep and bear arms -- into the
Supreme
Court.
(Sources: Neal Knox/Shotgun News; Tom Gresham;
WorldNetDaily.com)
"The Constitution shall never be
construed..."
"[T]he said Constitution shall
never be construed to authorize
Congress to infringe
the just liberty of the press or the rights of
conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States who
are
peaceable citizens from keeping their own
arms..."
-- Samuel Adams, 1788.
(Source: The Advocates for
Self-Government)
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