|
opinion
NRA
out to take over America
Bucking eons of precedent and tradition, the Bush administration
announced Tuesday that it has decided the Second Amendment
covers individual's rights to own guns.
This position contradicts the established position of the
government that had been set for more than 40 years; that
the Second Amendment merely covered the right to maintain
a "well-regulated militia."
The announcement also bucked the Constitution, which normally
reserved the right of constitutional interpretation to the
U.S. Supreme Court.
We do not really have anything to fear from this decision,
as it contained the caveat that it was "subject to reasonable
restrictions designed to prevent possession by unfit persons
or to restrict the possession of types of firearms that are
particularly suited to criminal misuse."
This is ironic, as the announcement came from John Ashcroft,
the head of the U.S. Schutzstaffel (sorry, I cannot bring
myself to call it the Justice Department anymore).
Ashcroft made his position known when he wrote letters to
the National Rifle Association last year expressing these
same views.
But that is to be expected from a lifelong member of this
fringe group intent on forcing its will on the American people.
That sentiment became clear during the groups annual convention
a few weeks ago when it took credit for Bush's victory and
announced it was moving its focus to the Senate.
Also at that convention, Sen. Zell Miller, D-Ga., became the
first nationally-elected Democrat (Congratulations!) to address
the annual meeting of the crazies.
"Like many of you, I've got more guns than I need, but
not as many as I want," Miller said, proving that getting
payoffs from lobbying groups has truly superceded party lines.
With the passage of the McCain-Feingold/Shays-Meehan campaign
finance reform bill - which the NRA is naturally trying to
kill (no pun intended) - we can only hope they will not be
able to use their financial clout to dictate public policy.
How this announcement is handled in the coming months will
be of great interest, as it contradicts many existing federal
laws.
As mentioned before, the new rules will still be used to keep
guns away from unfit people, Solicitor General Theodore Olson
noted in footnotes to the announcement.
This was noted in relation to two cases in particular, one
in which a man who owned two machine guns and another who
was trying to buy a gun while under a restraining order.
Like I said, at least they're looking out for us.
The only way we should be able to override a constitutional
amendment is with another one to replace it.
But that would require the approval of three-fourths of the
state legislatures for a new amendment.
Of course, this was enacted to ensure that a majority of Americans
want something changed, not just a selected ruling elite in
Washington, which today is sitting around lopsided because
their wallets are bulging with soft money.
Phil Witte is a journalism major at Cal State Long Beach.
|
|
Phil
Witte
- Witticisms
-
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Search our site
DEPARTMENT
OF
JOURNALISM
ONLINE 49ER
DEPARTMENTS
ADVERTISING
ADMINISTRATION
DAILY
49ER ALUMNI
SUBSCRIPTION
SERVICE
GIVE
FEEDBACK
|
