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For constitutional purists

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  • I think I should point this out to any of you who were so outraged when I suggested we tighten up the evidentiary rules in order to give more protection to victims.

    The SC just upheld the idea that states cities or municipalities cannot overwrite the right of individuals to own guns.

    {See VTs post)

    Of course that "right" has been trimmed down considerably since it was written but the attempt was to let it be completely removed in some places.

    No matter what your opinion of gun laws might be this, gentlemen, was decided by a 5 to 4 vote.

    Which means almost half of the SC is comfortable with eliminating that particular "right" entirely.

    WSS

  • What's alarming, is if the 4 who couldn't care less about our Constitutional rights were the five?

    And on the U.S. Supreme Court?

    They could simply rationalize making the 1st and 2nd Amendments obsolete...

    the entire Constitution obsolete.

    And I always wondered the love affair libs have with the likes of Fidel, Chavez, Assad, Mao...

    they envy the power those ruthless dictators had/have.

    We are in big, big trouble, I think.

    I wouldn't be surprised if the Gulf crisis goes worse with poisonous gases, and part of the souther coast

    gets told to move North, possibly permanently, in martial law.

    Some folks who hated the Patriot Act, want Obamao to be more "dictatorial".

  • Steve, giving people the right to own guns is a far different issue than allowing the government to torture people. I just really don't think they're very comparable.

  • VT, take away the right to ownership of guns, then lets see where that will lead. Will we start to torture citizens will tyranny run rampant?

    But if you read what Cal had to say, everyone should be alarmed that half of the supremes want to vote away our rights. The rights that have stood in this country from her very beginning.

    These are progressive judges, and if you watch how Congress makes a mockery of the senate confirmation hearings especially when Sotomayer came through, they did not allow enough time for discovery and went with and up and down vote.

    I wonder if they will do the same with Kagen and pave over the potholes on her resume.

  • VT, take away the right to ownership of guns, then lets see where that will lead. Will we start to torture citizens will tyranny run rampant?

    But if you read what Cal had to say, everyone should be alarmed that half of the supremes want to vote away our rights. The rights that have stood in this country from her very beginning.

    These are progressive judges, and if you watch how Congress makes a mockery of the senate confirmation hearings especially when Sotomayer came through, they did not allow enough time for discovery and went with and up and down vote.

    I wonder if they will do the same with Kagen and pave over the potholes on her resume.

    @mr.-t said:

    VT, take away the right to ownership of guns, then lets see where that will lead. Will we start to torture citizens will tyranny run rampant?

    Um, no? Also, I do realize it's a 5-4 margin, but I see that as a good thing. I don't want the SC made up entirely of conservative, religious nuts nor do I want it comprised entirely of tree-hugging, liberal hippies.

    /edit

    And yeah, as much as I want anything and everything our government decides to be something I agree with, that's probably not the best plan for our country. I think that if there are issues that much of America is split on, a supreme court that doesn't represent that is probably not best for our country either.

  • Steve, giving people the right to own guns is a far different issue than allowing the government to torture people. I just really don't think they're very comparable.

    @vaportrail said:

    Steve, giving people the right to own guns is a far different issue than allowing the government to torture people. I just really don't think they're very comparable.

    Which has nothing to do with the right to remain silent.

    Those were two different issues.

    So why is one of the bill of rights expendable but another gospel?

    WSS

  • No, it does, because you think that it should be law to tell the truth. But there's no way to enforce that without coercion or force. Those two things are directly related no matter how much you don't want them to be. If something is to be made into law, there needs to be a way to enforce it.

    2nd amendment has a clear-cut way of being enforced. Trying to make someone tell the truth? Not so much.

  • No, it does, because you think that it should be law to tell the truth. But there's no way to enforce that without coercion or force. Those two things are directly related no matter how much you don't want them to be. If something is to be made into law, there needs to be a way to enforce it.

    2nd amendment has a clear-cut way of being enforced. Trying to make someone tell the truth? Not so much.

    @vaportrail said:

    No, it does, because you think that it should be law to tell the truth. But there's no way to enforce that without coercion or force. Those two things are directly related no matter how much you don't want them to be. If something is to be made into law, there needs to be a way to enforce it.

    2nd amendment has a clear-cut way of being enforced. Trying to make someone tell the truth? Not so much.

    You're wrong.

    Weed selling is not a right but it doesn't men one can torture weed sellers.

    The torture was cleared up.

    You me Heck or anyone would do it if it was our loved one at risk.

    Still I don't think the right to obstruct the search for a person in danger should be a right.

    WSS

  • You're wrong.

    Weed selling is not a right but it doesn't men one can torture weed sellers.

    Irrelevant example. I'll say it again, if something is going to be made into law, it needs to be enforcable. I urge you again to come up with a way to enforce this that doesn't involve torture or coercion.

    The torture was cleared up.

    You me Heck or anyone would do it if it was our loved one at risk.

    And, as I recall, Heck nor myself advocated the government doing it even if we, personally, really wanted it to happen.

    /edit

    while i'd be okay with an individual acting out a crime of passion, i am not okay w/ the gov't doing the same

  • You're wrong.

    Weed selling is not a right but it doesn't men one can torture weed sellers.

    Irrelevant example. I'll say it again, if something is going to be made into law, it needs to be enforcable. I urge you again to come up with a way to enforce this that doesn't involve torture or coercion.

    The torture was cleared up.

    You me Heck or anyone would do it if it was our loved one at risk.

    And, as I recall, Heck nor myself advocated the government doing it even if we, personally, really wanted it to happen.

    /edit

    while i'd be okay with an individual acting out a crime of passion, i am not okay w/ the gov't doing the same

    @vaportrail said:

    I'll say it again, if something is going to be made into law, it needs to be enforcable. I urge you again to come up with a way to enforce this that doesn't involve torture or coercion.

    You aren't advocating legalization of withholding evidence, perjury, contempt of court and obstruction of justice are you?

    All of which are equally enforcable.

    while i'd be okay with an individual acting out a crime of passion, i am not okay w/ the gov't doing the same

    And while that's not on subject (being a disagreement with the Geneva Convention not the US constitution) I guess I just disagree with you.

    If you say you would not waterboard a high value terrorist even to avert another 9/11 I believe you and kind of understand your reasoning.

    I'd expect the president who made that decision would be out as soon as the attack came to light.

    But (I asked this before) would you define sodium pentathol as "torture" and would you refuse to use it regardless of outcome?

    WSS

  • And I'm still a bit surprised that none of you are shocked by the fact that 4 SC justices voted to eliminate the right to bear arms.

    WSS

  • And I'm still a bit surprised that none of you are shocked by the fact that 4 SC justices voted to eliminate the right to bear arms.

    WSS

    @westside-steve said:

    And I'm still a bit surprised that none of you are shocked by the fact that 4 SC justices voted to eliminate the right to bear arms.

    WSS

    I guess I'm at the point in my life right now that nothing shocks me anymore.

  • You aren't advocating legalization of withholding evidence, perjury, contempt of court and obstruction of justice are you?

    All of which are equally enforcable.

    I think obstruction of justice is bullshit. I'm not too sure exactly how it works, so I could just be speaking out of ignorance. But in all my experiences it's been used to coerce kids that are unaware of their constitutional rights into speaking when they should just shut up. ie (who bought you this beer, who threw sand in her car, if you don't tell us we'll hit you with obstruction of justice). If all of these things are prove (which they can be), then yes, by all means hit them with the charges, but in my experiences (in high school) they were only used as a scare tactic.

    And while that's not on subject (being a disagreement with the Geneva Convention not the US constitution) I guess I just disagree with you.

    If you say you would not waterboard a high value terrorist even to avert another 9/11 I believe you and kind of understand your reasoning.

    I'd expect the president who made that decision would be out as soon as the attack came to light.

    But (I asked this before) would you define sodium pentathol as "torture" and would you refuse to use it regardless of outcome?

    WSS

    Is that the truth agent? I mean, putting something in someone's body against their will just seems like it raises all sorts of moral flags. I guess it's a much lesser form of torture than say, waterboarding, but I still don't think I could advocate its use.

    And I'm still a bit surprised that none of you are shocked by the fact that 4 SC justices voted to eliminate the right to bear arms.

    WSS

    They didn't vote to eliminate the right to bear arms, only handguns. I'm pretty sure you could still buy a rifle in Chicago if you really wanted to. The right to bear arms is still there, just with some restrictions. I can understand why a city with a high rate of gun crimes would want to do something like this, but in my opinion it's just not going to do much in terms of protecting law-abiding citizens.

  • And I'm still a bit surprised that none of you are shocked by the fact that 4 SC justices voted to eliminate the right to bear arms.

    WSS

    @westside-steve said:

    And I'm still a bit surprised that none of you are shocked by the fact that 4 SC justices voted to eliminate the right to bear arms.WSS

    Unfortunately, not a surprise IMHO.

    People are jaded and expect only the worse from the courts.

    There is a process for amending the Constitution - even advocated by Heck for one of his anti-petty topics - but folks realize that it's much easier to change the Constitution via activist judges. In short, cutting corners.

    For the record, I have never owned a fire arm.

  • I don't get how you guys are shocked. We're clearly not a homogeneous nation, we are a nation where we're forced to back one of two parties that hold very different values; the only way they're both alike is that they're in corporate America's pockets. The presidents of these two parties have appointed a wide array of people to the supreme court. Barring people from getting handguns in a dangerous city isn't going to lead to all weapons being banned. This really shouldn't come as a shock.

  • I don't get how you guys are shocked. We're clearly not a homogeneous nation, we are a nation where we're forced to back one of two parties that hold very different values; the only way they're both alike is that they're in corporate America's pockets. The presidents of these two parties have appointed a wide array of people to the supreme court. Barring people from getting handguns in a dangerous city isn't going to lead to all weapons being banned. This really shouldn't come as a shock.

    @vaportrail said:

    I don't get how you guys are shocked. We're clearly not a homogeneous nation, we are a nation where we're forced to back one of two parties that hold very different values; the only way they're both alike is that they're in corporate America's pockets. The presidents of these two parties have appointed a wide array of people to the supreme court. Barring people from getting handguns in a dangerous city isn't going to lead to all weapons being banned. This really shouldn't come as a shock.

    First it's not only about handguns.

    It's about a city being able to override one of the Bill of Rights.

    Like if NYC decided to suspend habeus or take over the press.

    The reason I'm shocked is only that some here were positively outraged that I wanted to change one of those rights to more favor victims.

    I got lectures about founding fathers the sanctity of the rule of law etc etc.

    But this one could have been given up pretty easily and without a word.

    That's what surprised me.

    WSS

  • 1.It isn't just about handguns. It's just what they can do for now.

    2. They are wanting to add all weapons with a clip, too. Semi-autos have them,

    and many hunting rifles have them. It's always going to be something more.

    If they get away with handguns, it would be shotguns and rifles that use a clip,

    then it would be shotguns and rifles not using a clip but having a full choke for shotguns,

    and calibers over .177.

    Then they will add some other criteria that lowers gun ownership even more, then,

    they will simply use an extremely high licensing fee, costly training classes, etc,

    to take away all the rest of them, and if that doesn't work, the libs will think of something else.

    Some folks thought that common sense (can't own a working bazooka or machine gun...)

    would simply prevail. But not for libs.

    In other words, the ulterior motive is no gun ownership, but they will take what they can take now, and take more later.

    btw, the gun ban in Chicago? Chicago is one of the top gun murder states in the entire country, probably #1.

  • Cal, is the slippery slope the only logical argument in your arsenal?

  • Is obscure rationalization from the progressive state of mind the only

    retort you have on issues?

  • I think you mean obscure.

    But I really don't see what's obscure about one of the most dangerous cities in America attempting to curb gun crimes by making handguns illegal. What about that strikes you as obscure rationalization.