Subways and buses across the nation's largest city shut down Tuesday morning as transit workers walked off the job following days of acrimonious labor talks, stranding more than 7 million daily riders...
Mr. Codrea,
I appreciate your comments. I do object, however, to your contention that I am challenging "the leading authorities on the subject" when I state that both sides of the gun debate issue can cite colonial history and arguments made by the Founders to support their case.
First, though I do not question Mr. Halbrook's scholarly credentials, there is no monolithic set of "leading authorities" who are all in agreement regarding the Founders' intents. A quick Google search of the gun rights issue will bring up myriad federal court cases (Silveira v. Lockyer, for example) in which federal judges explicitly declare their belief that the intent of the Founders was to preserve a collective rather than independent right to bear arms. While I am not endorsing or refuting either the federal courts' or Mr. Halbrook's view of the original intent of the 2nd Amendment, I would posit that federal judges should be included among "leading authorities on the subject" and that "leading authorities" thus appear to disagree on the issue. There is apparently some gray where you would like to see only black or white.
Second, you can examine the 1789 "House Journal" and "Senate Journal" (the official records of the original debate) or the "Annals of Congress" (compiled decades later) to assess the intentions of the Founders. Contention over the meaning of "milita" abounds, a point critical to collective rights advocates. You can additionally examine English common law, often referenced in the colonies prior to the Revolution, and find a debasement of the individual right to bear arms starting as far back as 1328. These are but examples of the historical evidence that gun control advocates might use to substantiate their case and what I intended when I wrote that "both sides can cite colonial history and quote from the Founders."
But my point in writing the original letter was not to position myself as a leading scholar of matters constitutional nor to advance a particular point of view, but rather to express disappointment that such a complex and interesting issue was treated in so one-sided a manner. I was hoping that leading scholars on BOTH sides of the argument would write thoughtful pieces, and that I and other readers would benefit from their contrasting viewpoints.
I would very much appreciate your removing my e-mail address from your web site as it is intended for school business, and I do not want to be inundated with Second Amendment-related e-mails. Thank you for your consideration in this matter.
Regards,
Katherine Letellier
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The president of the Oakville Liberal riding association has resigned after telling a voter unhappy with gun control to take her "gun-loving ass back to the U.S."