Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stephens: Repeal 2nd Amendment

[sean miguel]

By John Paul Stevens

March 27, 2018


Rarely in my lifetime have I seen the type of civic engagement schoolchildren and their supporters demonstrated in Washington and other major cities throughout the country this past Saturday. These demonstrations demand our respect. They reveal the broad public support for legislation to minimize the risk of mass killings of schoolchildren and others in our society.

That support is a clear sign to lawmakers to enact legislation prohibiting civilian ownership of semiautomatic weapons, increasing the minimum age to buy a gun from 18 to 21 years old, and establishing more comprehensive background checks on all purchasers of firearms. But the demonstrators should seek more effective and more lasting reform. They should demand a repeal of the Second Amendment.

Concern that a national standing army might pose a threat to the security of the separate states led to the adoption of that amendment, which provides that “a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Today that concern is a relic of the 18th century.

For over 200 years after the adoption of the Second Amendment, it was uniformly understood as not placing any limit on either federal or state authority to enact gun control legislation. In 1939 the Supreme Court unanimously held that Congress could prohibit the possession of a sawed-off shotgun because that weapon had no reasonable relation to the preservation or efficiency of a “well regulated militia.”

During the years when Warren Burger was our chief justice, from 1969 to 1986, no judge, federal or state, as far as I am aware, expressed any doubt as to the limited coverage of that amendment. When organizations like the National Rifle Association disagreed with that position and began their campaign claiming that federal regulation of firearms curtailed Second Amendment rights, Chief Justice Burger publicly characterized the N.R.A. as perpetrating “one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word fraud, on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.”

In 2008, the Supreme Court overturned Chief Justice Burger’s and others’ long-settled understanding of the Second Amendment’s limited reach by ruling, in District of Columbia v. Heller, that there was an individual right to bear arms. I was among the four dissenters.

That decision — which I remain convinced was wrong and certainly was debatable — has provided the N.R.A. with a propaganda weapon of immense power. Overturning that decision via a constitutional amendment to get rid of the Second Amendment would be simple and would do more to weaken the N.R.A.’s ability to stymie legislative debate and block constructive gun control legislation than any other available option.

That simple but dramatic action would move Saturday’s marchers closer to their objective than any other possible reform. It would eliminate the only legal rule that protects sellers of firearms in the United States — unlike every other market in the world. It would make our schoolchildren safer than they have been since 2008 and honor the memories of the many, indeed far too many, victims of recent gun violence.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/03/27/opinion/john-paul-stevens-repeal-second-amendment.html

 

[Jack Davenport]

Yet, people like pool_hustler are always saying we are overreacting and the left do not want our guns.
This was a Supreme Court Justice of 30 years. The left never can be trusted, it is all baby steps with them. They deny everything, no voter fraud , you can keep your plan, marriage is between a man and a woman. Lie, gain ground, lie again, gain more ground, until they achieve their fascistic goals and totalitarianism.

Fuck The gotdam left.

 

[Will E Worm]

Glad he's a former one. Anyone with anti-American and anti-freedom views like these should never be in any position of power in America; and should be restricted from running.

 

[sean miguel]

Glad he's a former one. Anyone with anti-American and anti-freedom views like these should never be in any position of power in America; and should be restricted from running.

and honestly why the left (the true leftist machine, not those dumb shits wearing pussy hats), are still apoplectic over Trump winning is he can potentially keep the Supreme Court an originalist majority for the next 40+ years. Not to mention stacking the lower courts. but yeah, so what? What the left can't win by ballot, they hope to win by judicial activism. You know, judges as legislators.

7-2. reap it, motherfuckers.

#WhatIWantToSayRightNowSoBadButIPromisedNotTo

at least Stephens is being honest. But those in his camp have to be cursing him for that as this is only going to further energize the right come the midterms.

 

[bodie54]

Yet, people like pool_hustler are always saying we are overreacting and the left do not want our guns.

You are.
And we don't.
Some 97 year old guy goes off on a bender and you think this reveals the true secret Dem agenda? Sorry but LOL

I do observe though that somehow all the fear and loathing and catastrophizing brings some kind of comfort, so by all means don't listen to what a mainstream democrat who talks politics with other mainstream democrats all the time candidly tells you. Maybe in fact my brother was sent here to Freeones by the deep state specifically to provide cover for our REAL agenda. Yeah, that's the ticket

 

[Jack Davenport]

You are.
And we don't.
Some 97 year old guy goes off on a bender and you think this reveals the true secret Dem agenda? Sorry but LOL

I do observe though that somehow all the fear and loathing and catastrophizing brings some kind of comfort, so by all means don't listen to what a mainstream democrat who talks politics with other mainstream democrats all the time candidly tells you. Maybe in fact my brother was sent here to Freeones by the deep state specifically to provide cover for our REAL agenda. Yeah, that's the ticket

That “ some 97 year old guy” just so happened to sit on the highest court in the land as an associate justice and interpret our most hallowed document. When Billy Graham was 97, people didn’t dismiss him as an old senile Bible thumper. Stevens is only 12 years older than Ruth Bader Ginsburg and he seems far more cognizant and fit to serve than she does. All she does is nap. The left are so worried about her not croaking that I think they should send in a physician everyday before she dons her robe to make sure we don’t have a “Weekend At Bernie’s” situation going on.

Yeah, the left want our guns but will deny it just like everything else.
I expect no less.

 

[Johan]

Yet, people like pool_hustler are always saying we are overreacting and the left do not want our guns.
This was a Supreme Court Justice of 30 years. The left never can be trusted, it is all baby steps with them. They deny everything, no voter fraud , you can keep your plan, marriage is between a man and a woman. Lie, gain ground, lie again, gain more ground, until they achieve their fascistic goals and totalitarianism.

Fuck The gotdam left.

John Paul Stevens was a registered Republican. He was named Associate Justice to the Supreme Court by president Gerald Ford.
Back in the 70', the guy was on the Right. Unfortunately, the US political spectrum shifted so much to the Right that people who used to be on the Right (like John P. Stevens or Chief Justice Warren Burger) are now considered to be leftists

 

[Jack Davenport]

John Paul Stevens was a registered Republican. He was named Associate Justice to the Supreme Court by president Gerald Ford.
Back in the 70', the guy was on the Right. Unfortunately, the US political spectrum shifted so much to the Right that people who used to be on the Right (like John P. Stevens or Chief Justice Warren Burger) are now considered to be leftists

Republican does not mean conservative. And there are leftist Republicans .And Gerald Ford was the father of GOP establishment cucks. No one ever cast a vote for him to become president and the only votes for him were in defeat.
You are very ignorant to the nuances of politics. Stevens was never considered a conservative Justice. Never fucking ever.

 

[sean miguel]

Stevens is only 12 years older than Ruth Bader Ginsburg and he seems far more cognizant and fit to serve than she does. All she does is nap. The left are so worried about her not croaking that I think they should send in a physician everyday before she dons her robe to make sure we don’t have a “Weekend At Bernie’s” situation going on.

lol holy shit.

 

[Will E Worm]

That “ some 97 year old guy” just so happened to sit on the highest court in the land as an associate justice and interpret our most hallowed document. When Billy Graham was 97, people didn’t dismiss him as an old senile Bible thumper. Stevens is only 12 years older than Ruth Bader Ginsburg and he seems far more cognizant and fit to serve than she does. All she does is nap. The left are so worried about her not croaking that I think they should send in a physician everyday before she dons her robe to make sure we don’t have a “Weekend At Bernie’s” situation going on.

Yeah, the left want our guns but will deny it just like everything else.
I expect no less.

The Constitution is not opened for interpretation.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is a colorful and brilliant proponent of the school of constitutional interpretation called “originalism.” He argues that originalism is the only proper way to interpret the United States Constitution so that judges are not given license to create or eliminate constitutional rights as they see fit.

Article

John Paul Stevens was a registered Republican. He was named Associate Justice to the Supreme Court by president Gerald Ford.
Back in the 70', the guy was on the Right. Unfortunately, the US political spectrum shifted so much to the Right that people who used to be on the Right (like John P. Stevens or Chief Justice Warren Burger) are now considered to be leftists

They are called RINOs.

 

[Jack Davenport]

The Constitution is not opened for interpretation.

Yes it is, that is why who is given the responsibility to interpret it is crucial.
That’s silly Will. The framers gave us mechanisms to amend it, so certainly the framers knew that it would be interpreted and rulings would be handed down based upon their interpretations.

 

[georges]

Trump won't give up the second amendment
https://conservativetribune.com/tru...aign=dailyam&utm_content=conservative-tribune

 

[bodie54]

Trump won't give up the second amendment
https://conservativetribune.com/tru...aign=dailyam&utm_content=conservative-tribune

Oh the fucking drama.
As if he's going to have to make that call.
Not.
Just more histrionic showmanship to whip up and unify his paranoid flock. Transparent as glass.

But hey, again, for reasons I don't comprehend conservatives seem like they'd be lost if they didn't wake up every day with something to catastrophize about.
Credit Trump for knowing how to work that dynamic to his personal advantage. It's awful for america, but it's taken him all the way to the white house.

 

[Jack Davenport]

But hey,

:1orglaugh

 

[bodie54]

The humor is lost on me. Sorry. Maybe the truth of the post required a diversion.

 

[Jack Davenport]

The humor is lost on me. Sorry. Maybe the truth of the post required a diversion.

Check your PM.

 

[Johan]

Republican does not mean conservative. And there are leftist Republicans .And Gerald Ford was the father of GOP establishment cucks. No one ever cast a vote for him to become president and the only votes for him were in defeat.
You are very ignorant to the nuances of politics. Stevens was never considered a conservative Justice. Never fucking ever.

I never said he was a conservative. My post doesn 't even features the word "conservative".

Leftist Republicans. Yeah, you're actually making my case about the us political spectrum having shifted to the Right. Thanks.

 

[georges]

Let's add more facts why the 2nd amendment should be kept at all costs
https://conservativetribune.com/former-lawmaker-ar-15s-defense/
https://conservativetribune.com/retired-cop-posts-epic-message/
https://conservativetribune.com/james-woods-dug-up-second-amendment-opinion/
https://conservativetribune.com/pro-gun-personality-disney/
https://conservativetribune.com/community-steps-up-school-nra/
https://conservativetribune.com/vermont-lawmakers-vs-gun-rights/
And here is what happens in England where people have no guns but get stabbed
https://conservativetribune.com/lon...tm_content=2018-03-30&utm_campaign=manualpost