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In 18th and 19th century America codifying into law a right to self defense and hunting your food would be like codifying a right to breathe or wear a warm coat.

All those famous quotes from the authors of the Constitution and Founders of the USA about the utility of personally owned weapons against criminals and tyrannical governments aren't enough?
 
Duke University's Miller says that Justice Scalia's opinion was "essentially reaching back and saying those 200 years of history where it's all about the militia clause, those are all wrong."

"So now, you don't have to show that you're a member of the National Guard to have a pistol in your home for purposes of self-defense," he says.

Prior to Heller, "you didn't have any kind of federal Second Amendment rights that were unrelated to one's membership in a militia," Miller says.

"There was pretty consistent agreement among courts, and really scholars," says Alex McCourt, director of legal research at the Center for Gun Violence Solutions at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. They believed, he said, "that the Second Amendment did not confer an individual right."

McCourt, who studies firearms policy, says the 2008 decision was the first time that the Supreme Court recognized the individual right over the collective rights theory, as embraced by the older view of the militia clause that had previously prevailed.
No surprise since it's coming from NPR, but critical thinking is dead, and journalism died with it. So many people just accept what is presented to them at face value now - whatever happened to citing sources? Whatever happened to follow-up questions?

And McCourt's comment is ridiculous. "There was pretty consistent agreement among courts, and really scholars... that the 2nd Amendment didn't confer an individual right." Which courts? Which scholars? Where's the proof?

Anyone who can rub two brain cells together would have asked, "If the second amendment didn't confer an individual right, why is it that individuals have literally ALWAYS been able to purchase guns in the US, and do so without showing proof of membership in a militia?" It's not like people couldn't own guns before 2008 - Heller just codified in law what was already spelled out (rather clearly) in the 2nd Amendment.
 
No surprise since it's coming from NPR, but critical thinking is dead, and journalism died with it. So many people just accept what is presented to them at face value now - whatever happened to citing sources? Whatever happened to follow-up questions?

And McCourt's comment is ridiculous. "There was pretty consistent agreement among courts, and really scholars... that the 2nd Amendment didn't confer an individual right." Which courts? Which scholars? Where's the proof?

Anyone who can rub two brain cells together would have asked, "If the second amendment didn't confer an individual right, why is it that individuals have literally ALWAYS been able to purchase guns in the US, and do so without showing proof of membership in a militia?" It's not like people couldn't own guns before 2008 - Heller just codified in law what was already spelled out (rather clearly) in the 2nd Amendment.
Agree. Your post is the kind of statement that should appear in a dozen editorials all around the country but probably didn't
 

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