Gun Control

[quote]NickViar wrote:

[quote]SteelyD wrote:

[quote]hungry4more wrote:

[quote]NickViar wrote:
“God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty . . . And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”

-Thomas Jefferson in response to Shays’ Rebellion

“But the true barriers of our liberty in this country are our State governments; and the wisest conservative power ever contrived by man, is that of which our Revolution and present government found us possessed. Seventeen distinct States, amalgamated into one as to their foreign concerns, but single and independent as to their internal administration.”

-Thomas Jefferson

(Do states still have ANY powers that can’t be superceded by the federal government?)[/quote]

That is something I abhor; the way Federal gov’t is considered the be-all end-all of authority. At least if individual states are allowed more power, then varying states can mimic the successful ones’ style of governing, learn from each other, etc. When all states are more or less forced to govern the same, it doesn’t allow for ideas like that. [/quote]

States have more autonomy than most think. I think a lot of Federal ‘bullying’ is just tied to mandates for states to follow to receive Federal dollars.

More states need to tell the Feds to go F*)(( themselves more often and become less dependent on Fed dollars.
[/quote]

No doubt this is probably true, but was/should the federal government ever given/have the power to give the states federal money legitimately? Some might say that all federal money should go toward national defense, which would result in lower federal taxes being required. States could then make their taxes higher or lower in order to satisfy their citizens. Are the needs of a state better decided at the federal or state level?[/quote]

Although a useful hypothetical perhaps, in terms of what is rightfully in line with the Founder’s intentions, I consider the cat too far out of the bag to be put back in. Pandora’s box is already open.

[quote]DrSkeptix wrote:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-militia-mole-20130113,0,4654308.story[/quote]

Seek the pathologic and nature will provide you with an example.

And this example (from the Pacific Northwest, no less) should bind the various conversations–push, tb, smh, JP–together.

Well, then, were these Militia men in Alaska exercising their God-given rights to arm themselves for an insurrection against what they imagined was an illegal government?
Or were they thugs, accumulating arms, plastic explosives, and whatnot, to murder and intimidate others?
True, they are going to trial, to be judged by a jury of their peers, but what will their defense be? That the Second Amendment recognizes their right to rebellion and to arm themselves equally to a Federal government?

If this same scenario were to play out in Alabama, and Col. JP, now a commander of the federalized unorganized militia, were ordered to detain, capture, and if necessary eliminate them, would he?
I am not a willing victim, incidentally. I, like JP, try to follow the laws as constituted. But here, in Alaska, we have the core of the faulty argument; that anyone or any group with a gripe can claim to be above the law and retaliate violently, and use the Second Amendment as an impenetrable shield.

How does one imagine that the Second Amendment could be a shield against being charged and convicted of conspiracy to commit murder?

Perhaps if the only evidence was possession of the weapons that would be one thing.

But if there is other evidence of conspiracy to commit murder how can the Second Amendment be a shield.

[quote]pushharder wrote:

[quote]smh23 wrote:

[quote]smh23 wrote:

[quote]pushharder wrote:

[quote]smh23 wrote:

[quote]JayPierce wrote:

[quote]smh23 wrote:
Another way to frame it:

The First Amendment protects citizens from punitive government action as a consequence of that citizen’s speech and/or writing.[/quote]

Aaah, but see, this is a misunderstanding of the purpose of the Bill of Rights. 1A protects citizens from being prevented from speaking or writing their views and opinions. [/quote]

Absolutely not.

“Congress shall make no law…”

No law can affect the ability to speak. A law can, however, criminalize speech–that is, punish speech after it’s been spoken. And that is exactly what the First Amendment addresses. The writings of the founders make this abundantly clear.

So: the First Amendment prohibits legal punishment for speech. Brandenburg allows for legal punishment of speech in certain circumstances, namely when public safety necessitates it. Brandenburg, in other words, sets boundaries to a right which is presented without boundaries in the Bill of Rights.

A gun control bill would be as legitimate as Brandenburg. Which is not to say it will be effective or smart–but it will be exactly as legitimate.

Defamation, as an aside, is not a crime.
[/quote]

Stop it with this Brandenburg nonsense. Even if you are running with the two-pronged test used by the USSC:

(1) speech can be prohibited if it is “directed at inciting or producing imminent lawless action” and (2) it is “likely to incite or produce such action.”

…Brandenburg is STILL an expansion of free speech.

You are straining like a lame mule pulling a plow in heavy sod to try and make what amounts to an extremely thin case for extrapolating Brandenburg as some kind of tool for justifying 2nd Amendment limits.

Quit before the egg on your face gets so thick you’ll need a shovel to clean up with.[/quote]

The argument is solid and you know that it is. And furthermore you’re dancing around the edges of it on the fantastically irrelevant grounds that the alternative–Ohio’s censorship law–was harsher on speech rights and was struck down–a point of whose total irrelevance I hope you’re aware.

That Brandenburg protects inflammatory speech is absolutely superfluous–inflammatory speech or speech that advocates violence, as a subset of speech, was already protected under the First Amendment. The element of Brandenburg that is relevant to us in this thread is the abridgment of particular kinds of speech–namely, the criminalization of speech intended to incite imminent lawless action–which would otherwise seem to fall under the broader and Constitutionally protected category of speech in general. I’ll lay it out as a logical argument and see if you can refute any of it:

[b]

  1. The Bill of Rights prohibits government from “abridging the freedom of speech.”

  2. Brandenburg v. Ohio allows the government to criminalize–to abridge–speech that might incite imminent lawless action.

  3. Speech that might incite imminent lawless action is a particular subset of speech in general, which is protected without elaboration by the First Amendment.

  4. Therefore, Brandenburg v. Ohio curtails a right enumerated in the Bill of Rights in the name of public safety. It sets a boundary where none was set by the Founders.
    [/b]

[/quote]

Re-posted so that Push or anybody who wants to can address it.[/quote]

Re-posted so that smh or anybody who wants to can address this.

I don’t know if it’s my delayed posting status or what that causes you and others to miss my responses or not but here we go again:

Re: Brandenburg: The USSC held that government cannot punish inflammatory speech unless that speech is directed to inciting, and is likely to incite, imminent lawless action.

For this to work for you, smh, you will have to admit that the government cannot restrict our rights to keep and bear weapons unless those weapons are directed to inciting, and is likely to incite, imminent lawless action.

I could own fully auto weapons, Stinger missiles, tanks, AR-15’s dressed up in “assault weapon” fashion, and even a truckload of Glock pistols with 16 round magazines, etc., etc., but if I don’t get in the imminent lawless action inciting business then the Brandenburg-eers of this world need quit waving their piece of paper from 1969 around like it’s some kind of trump card or sumthin.

If you don’t concede that then Brandenburg absolutely works against what you’re trying to do here and works FOR my argument. [/quote]

You do not understand the argument.

Brandenburg, in the name of public safety, abridges a right protected by the First Amendment. The details of the abridgment–that the speech must directly incite imminent lawless action–are particular to the right being abridged. The point is that an abridgment is being outlined and condoned.

Likewise, an abridgment, in the name of public safety, of Second Amendment rights–obviously not the same as Brandenburg in the details, but an abridgment nonetheless–would be as legitimate as is Brandenburg.

Again:

  1. The Bill of Rights prohibits government from “abridging the freedom of speech.”

  2. Brandenburg v. Ohio allows the government to criminalize–to abridge–speech that might incite imminent lawless action.

  3. Speech that might incite imminent lawless action is a particular subset of speech in general, which is protected without elaboration by the First Amendment.

  4. Therefore, Brandenburg v. Ohio curtails a right enumerated in the Bill of Rights in the name of public safety. It sets a boundary where none was set by the Founders.
    [/b]

Find the misstep in this logical argument. If you cannot, then you concede that Constitutionally protected rights may be abridged in the name of public safety.

Smh and Push, you both seem to be talking about the difference between “prior restraint” and punishment for post-exercise conduct without mentioning the term “prior restraint.” And there is a difference between “prior restraint” and punishment for post-exercise conduct. I just thought I’d throw that out there.

[quote]pushharder wrote:

Quit with the “libertarian thinking” condescension. This isn’t about libertarianism. Just read and apply the 2nd Amendment in a straight forward fashion and don’t attempt to denigrate the conclusion by claiming the PacNorthwest whackos are the only ones who champion it.

This is a statist/non-statist issue. An authoritarian/freedom issue. An aristocracy/peasant issue. A “safety”/liberty/history issue (cue Ben Franklin).

This really isn’t even about guns. It’s about government encroachment on simply stated freedoms, freedoms that have been recognized in western culture for over four centuries.[/quote]

Another non-answer. And no, it isn’t a statist/non-statist issue, or an authoritarian/freedom issue, or an aristocracy/peasant issue - why? Because society does not operate with such reductionist, binary political philosophies, never has, and there are many points in between someone could be on.

Now, I realize that every time someone asks you a tough question, you run like a stabbed rat, but simply anwer the question posed to you.

[quote]jjackkrash wrote:
Smh and Push, you both seem to be talking about the difference between “prior restraint” and punishment for post-exercise conduct without mentioning the term “prior restraint.” And there is a difference between “prior restraint” and punishment for post-exercise conduct. I just thought I’d throw that out there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prior_restraint[/quote]

Prior restraint is in the penumbra of the debate–it is almost entirely related to freedom of the press rather than that of speech. Brandenburg deals with the criminalization of speech–that is, the punishment of a citizen for something they’ve already said.

[quote]pushharder wrote:

Hogwash. There is no compelling reason to have to “first” deal with this argument.[/quote]

Sure it is, because if you’re right (aling with DoubleDuce and JayPierce), then the argument is settled, and there is nothing more to debate - the 2nd Amendment lets private citizens have whatever they want, and no caveats.

Well, really for the umpteenth time, instead of just pondering and answering the question, you provide an “answer” of boilerplate libertarian brochure rhetoric about how the dang ol federal government is metastasizing and terrorizing us all.

That boilerplate rhetoric doesn’t answer the question put to you over the 2nd Amendment. So, you going to answer or not?

If yes, then do so. If not, then simply affirm that you aren’t going to answer, and I’ll just move on to something else.

[quote]DrSkeptix wrote:

If this same scenario were to play out in Alabama, and Col. JP, now a commander of the federalized unorganized militia, were ordered to detain, capture, and if necessary eliminate them, would he?[/quote]
Yes, he would. Conspiracy to murder is illegal. It is not now, nor has it ever been, a right or duty of the militia.

2A guarantees you the right to KEEP and BEAR arms. Not to conspire to murder.

Your ‘faulty argument’ argument is faulty.

[quote]pushharder wrote:

I’ve answered it many times. In the Costas thread and here. You don’t remember?[/quote]

No, I don’t remember you ever saying if the 2nd Amendment protects private ownership of any weapon that the federal government or not.

[quote]pushharder wrote:

[quote]smh23 wrote:

Prior restraint is in the penumbra of the debate–it is almost entirely related to freedom of the press rather than that of speech. Brandenburg deals with the criminalization of speech–that is, the punishment of a citizen for something they’ve already said.[/quote]

And therein do we agree (I guess). Punish a citizen who for something they’ve already done with a gun that is illegal.

We don’t punish for possessing a microphone. Let’s not do it for possessing an AR-15 with a large capacity magazine.[/quote]

And yet do you see now my point that Brandenburg is an example of an instance in which a Constitutionally protected right was abridged.

In other words:

AA: The First Amendment prohibits the government from punishing its citizens for speech in general.

AB: Brandenburg allows the government to punish its citizens for [certain] speech.

BA: The Second Amendment prohibits the government from infringing upon the right of the people to keep and bear arms in general.

What would analog BB be?

It would be something like: [The name of some hypothetical gun control legislation] allows the government to infringe upon the right to keep and bear [certain] arms.

push, do you believe that the freedom of speech the 1st Amendment is talking about is freedom from the gov’t preventing you from physically speaking (like gagging citizens or something)? Because that would seem to be the comparable restriction to keeping people from having guns, aka a MEANS to commit something evil.

So is “freedom of speech” protection from the gov’t keeping you from speaking, or protection from being prosecuted for that speech? Or both?