Quote:
Scalia asked if permissible limits could restrict you to one gun, or
> only a few guns, or if a collector couldn't complete a set like a
> stamp
> collector because of a quantity restriction, and then launched into a
> demonstration of his familiarity with firearms by suggesting a need
> to
> have a turkey gun, and a duck gun, and a thirty-ought-six, and a
> .270,
> which sent Thomas into a fit of off-mic laughter that other observers
> missed because they were focused on Scalia;
Is this a good thing or bad? The way I see it is Scalia is ignoring the meaning of the second. He should have responded with:
Quote:
"multiple firearms would be necessary in order to protect the "free" state from enemies both foreign and domestic. To regulate or infringe on ones right to possess and bear multiple firearms would directly violate the intent of the founders as expressed by george Washington when he stated "Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples' liberty's teeth." Inferring that the firearm is not about hunting or even self-defense, but about preserving liberty. Or as Thomas jefferson put it "Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state." I understand the "governments" position, of course they want to disarm the folks - the armed people can hold a tyrannical government to the constraints of the constitution. But only with the might of multiple firearms of war."
Thats the way I see it. But he weakened the argument by using the hunting analogy. I think he did it with FULL and BLATANT disregard to the intent. He knows better. And he knows the words of our founders. This "shaping" technique of debate is commonly used in argument after argument after argument to manipulate the listener away from real point. Its typical lawyer prowess.
Why is no one talking about this?
TMike