Second Amendment government

The lower court judge threw out the case on the grounds that the law violated the Second Amendment. The government appealed. Meanwhile, the bootleggers disappeared. When the case was finally heard in the Supreme Court, only the government was represented. 

This case has a number of important features. From the point of view of challenging gun control, it should be noted that the Second Amendment played no part in the challenge. Unless the Supreme Court revisits its view of the Second Amendment, challenges to federal gun control laws are likely to be based on the Commerce Clause or federalism (the division of powers between the federal government and the states, as in Printz et al. v. U.S.). 

Supreme Court overturns the conviction, declaring that this right is independent of the Second Amendment and that the latter cannot be used against individuals or states, only against the federal government. 

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. 

Cottrol, Robert J., and Raymond T. Diamond. The Second Amendment Toward an Afro-Americanist Reconsideration. Georgetown Law Journal, vol. 809, December 1991, pp. 309-361. Suggests that while African-American intellectuals have generally followed the pro-gun control stance of modern liberals, the authors suggest that in the light of the historical failure of the government to protect African Americans, the Second Amendment s concept of an armed citizenry may still be valid. 

In the last few decades, courts and commentators have offered what may fairly be characterized as three different basic interpretations of the Second Amendment. The first is that the Second Amendment does not apply to individuals rather, it merely recognizes the right of a state to arm its militia. This states rights or collective rights interpretation of the Second Amendment has been embraced by several of our sister circuits. The government commended the states rights view of the Second Amendment to the district court, urging that the Second Amendment does not apply to individual citizens. 

The government s brief thereafter makes essentially two legal arguments. First, it contends that the right secured by the Second Amendment is only one which exists where the arms are borne in the militia or some other military organization provided for by law and intended for the protection of the state. Id. at 15. This, in essence, is the sophisticated collective rights model. 

Thereafter, the government s brief in its conclusion states . .. we respectfully submit that Section 11 of the National Firearms Act does not infringe the right of the people to keep and bear arms secured by the Second Amendment. ... 

We have found no historical evidence that the Second Amendment was intended to convey militia power to the states, limit the federal government s power to maintain a standing army, or applies only to members of a select militia while on active duty. All of the evidence indicates that the... 

Three t)rpes of rmusual IND situations deserve special mention. First, the regulations contain a provision governing emergency use of an investigational new drug. Where FDA will permit such use by telephone or other rapid communication means. In these situations, the IND must subsequently be amended to reflect the new situation. Second, FDA will approve specific... 

Development of the second draft of docmnent, etc. - altogether over 20 phases, which terminate after approval of the developed FSR, by drawing up of a draft of RF Government decree on introducing amendments into the actual list of federal standards and rules. 

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