• hakase@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    No, Supreme Court justices for the past two centuries actually know how to read, it turns out, so they can easily tell that a well-regulated militia is the main socially beneficial outcome of, and not a prerequisite for or restriction of, the right to keep and bear arms.

    • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      So where are they? Why is there not a robust structure, or pipeline of ownership to membership, including (most critically to me) the training and monitoring of those who are armed (well regulated)?

      Just because you adopt the first part (ownership before membership) as important, doesn’t mean society, and the pre eminent law of the land can just give up on the second.

      I don’t mean “show me that a militia exists”, I don’t need that link.

      I mean why are the vast majority of gun owners not affiliated? Not trained?

      • hakase@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Just because you adopt the first part (ownership before membership) as important, doesn’t mean society, and the pre eminent law of the land can just give up on the second.

        I agree completely, but that’s still irrelevant to the question of the right to keep and bear arms in the first place.

        I mean why are the vast majority of gun owners not affiliated? Not trained?

        This is largely how Switzerland works, for example, and they’re a perfect example of why people should be affiliated and trained.

        But to answer your question, the dual role of militias as both external defense and internal peacekeepers has unfortunately been usurped. On the one hand by the growth and sophistication of the US Armed Forces, and on the other by the originally racist and anti-working class organizations that later became police forces. The latter highlights even moreso the reason why the right to keep and bear arms is so important (as well as the importance of self-organization of those keeping and bearing the arms!), and it boggles my mind how eager people are to give it up with everything that’s happened in the past few years, especially women and minorities.

        • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Thanks for the legit reply. I think we are closer aligned than might seem.

          I’m indisposed right now and can’t make a full reply but this is a legit chain.

    • kmkz_ninja@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The Supreme Court also justified that abortion should be policed at the state level despite 50 years of it being protected at the federal level, so I wouldn’t use their ability or reason as jutsification. “They can easily tell”, when it agrees with what you agree with. In the same way the Constitution can be read to agree with digital 4th amendment rights, or not.

      • hakase@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Of course they did. Unfortunately, it’s clearly the correct legal decision, regardless of whether abortion is good or bad or whatever.

        Congress has never had the balls to actually enshrine the right to abortion in legislation, and so 50 years ago the Supreme Court took it upon themselves to write the law themselves by nonsensically putting it under the umbrella of “medical privacy”.

        This incredibly hacky “solution” is clearly outside of the Court’s jurisdiction and mandate, and legal experts have been saying for decades that the right to abortion should be enshrined in statute, and not rest solely on this flimsy precedent.

        Note also that the Court’s opinions specifically note that a federal law legalizing abortion would be perfectly acceptable, if it existed, which it doesn’t.

        If people want abortion to be legalized federally, they should elect representatives who will sign that into law instead of relying on the Supreme Court to yet again overstep its bounds and write bad law. The Dobbs v. Jackson outcome is very clearly the correct one, legally.

        Unfortunately, though, your point that the Court doesn’t always follow its mandate or stay within its jurisdiction is well taken. For an actual recent example of the Supreme Court writing even more bad law, look no further than Citizens United.