Equal Rights Amendment

The federal district court ruled that the statute was not vague, because it addresses an understandable core of banned guns and adequately puts gun owners on notice that their weapon could be prohibited. The Court also ruled that the law did not violate anyone s equal protection rights any burden on those rights was acceptable because the rationality of the link between public safety and proscribing assault weapons is obvious. Finally, under the lesser standards protecting commercial speech under the First Amendment, no violation of free speech rights was found. 

In Lewis v. U.S., the Supreme Court holds that the federal government denying felons the right to possess firearms does not infringe on the provisions of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms nor on the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. 

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was created in 1972 with an amendment to the Civil Rights Act. The EEOC was given the authority to monitor discrimination and file lawsuits to correct discriminatory practices in the workplace. This amendment was also responsible for affirmative action, an activist approach to correcting discrimination. Affirmative action pressures employers to actively recruit and give preference to minorities in order to correct previous prejudice in employment. Although highly controversial, affirmative action is practiced commonly in business. 

Since the adoption of the FLSA in 1938, there have been few modifications to the original act and regulations. Other pieces of federal legislation have been passed to safeguard against discrimination in employment and pay practices, such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (amended in 1972), the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1991, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

Under the Equality Act 2006 a new Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) will replace the DRC in October 2007 although the statutory disability committee and designated commissioner will remain. It is worth emphasising the DDA s wide scope. Before amendment in 2004, it did not apply to certain occupations and did not affect employers who employed fewer than 20 people (later reduced to 15). Now under DDA all employers owe duties no matter the size of their workforce and only the armed forces are excluded. 

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