Friday, December 29, 2006

Mr. Connery, You'll Have to Check That Shotgun

Taking a lesson from the 1981 Sean Connery sci fi western Outland, which showed how dangerous it can be to mix guns with spaceflight, the Federal Aviation Administration wants to keep passengers from carrying firearms on rocket ships...

[T]he FAA casually and gratuitously endorsed the "collective right" interpretation of the Second Amendment, according to which the amendment poses no obstacle to gun control because it has nothing to do with an individual right to keep and bear arms, instead protecting states' prerogatives vis-à-vis their militias...

For supporters of the right to armed self-defense, them's fightin' words. Pro-gun-rights blogger David Codrea asked the FAA how it could reconcile this language with then-Attorney General John Ashcroft's statement, in a May 2001 letter to the National Rifle Association, that "the text and the original intent of the Second Amendment clearly protect the right of individuals to keep and bear firearms."

Well, this has certainly gone a lot farther than I'd expected. Let's see if interest evaporates or if it gains wider attention, the goal being to press the administration to explain itself and rescind the "collective rights" language.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

glad it's getting some play.

-SayUncle

David Codrea said...

Thanks Uncle--it looks like your posting on Knox News is what broke through the logjam of disinterest.

Kurt '45superman' Hofmann said...

I'm glad both of you are on this--way to go.