From: cdt@sw.stratus.com (C. D. Tavares)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns
Subject: Constitutional Gun Banning
Keywords: HCI
Date: 8 Apr 92 02:53:54 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Stratus Computer, Inc.

Here's an interesting HCI document I just came across called 
"The Second Amendment: Fraud and Fact."  (The comments in 
brackets are MINE.)

FRAUD: The Second Amendment to the Constitution guarantees each
individual the unlimited right to own and use guns for hunting,
self-protection, target shooting, or other individual pursuits.

[COMMENT: Since the Second Amendment is about people's control
of the government, sporting purposes are a total strawman.]

FACT: Although the gun lobby, led by the National Rifle Association,
literally spends millions of dollars each year promoting this false
claim, the truth is the federal courts have unanimously held that the
right to keep and bear arms is limited to participation in an
organized militia... that the Second Amendment does not guarantee the
right of individuals to own and to carry arms.

[COMMENT: Notice they say "federal courts," not "the Supreme Court."
I find the term "unanimous" to be somewhat unbelievable.  Are there
any federal court rulings that say otherwise?  Are there any federal
courd rulings that DO say what HCI claims?  I've seen references on 
tpg in the past to "rulings on which the SC refused to hear appeals..."]

FRAUD: Because the Second Amendment guarantees Americans the right to
bear arms, the government cannot forbid Americans to own firearms,
such as handguns, or even assault weapons.

FACT: No federal court in history has ever overturned a gun control
law on Second Amendment grounds. To the contrary, the courts have held
that this amendment does not prohibit Congress from regulating the
interstate sale of weapons, nor does it prevent the states from
regulating the use and sale of firearms as they see fit.

FRAUD: Because it contains the phrase, "the right of the people to
keep and bear arms," the Second Amendment was meant to confer an
individual right to own and use firearms.

FACT: During colonial days, Americans held a great distrust of
standing armies and, in order to get the Constitution ratified, the
framers had to include a Bill of Rights provision to protect state
militias from federal encroachment.  Thus, "of the people" refers to
the right of the people to participate in organized state militias,
free from interference by the federal government.

[COMMENT: Boy, THAT provision sure worked real well.]

FRAUD: A "well-regulated militia" refers to those persons who live
within the boundaries of any given state, and that's why each citizen
of a state retains a fundamental "right to keep and bear arms."

[COMMENT: Who the hell has ever claimed THAT?]

FACT: The term "well-regulated militia" has been consistently viewed
by the federal courts as the active, organized militia of each state.
Moreover, the US Supreme Court has twice held that the National Guard
is the modern day equivalent of a state militia.  Of course, the
National Guard does not use privately owned firearms at all.

[COMMENT: What are these federal court rulings?  As for the Guard
argument, this will come as quote a shock to my fellow Massachusans,
since the federal government is about to decimate OUR "state" militia
by cutting our National Guard back to the bone.]

Comments?  Provable lies?  Citations?
-- 

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