Can Felons Regain the Right to Bear Arms
Misinterpreting the Right to Bear Artillery
Richard A. Epstein is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at New York University Law School, the Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow at The Hoover Institution, and Senior Lecturer at the University of Chicago Law Schoolhouse.
Updated October 2, 2015, 10:33 AM
Michael Luo'due south study in The Times does much to expose how the sensible case for ordinary gun ownership can and then hands go astray. In general, a potent case tin be made for allowing ordinary citizens to carry guns after a modest background bank check. These guns could be used defensively and thus in some cases could hands prevent crimes that lawless individuals might otherwise commit.
Why whatever reading of the Second Subpoena is invoked in support of felon'due south rights to deport guns remains a distressing mystery.
Even the well-nigh modest background check, notwithstanding, would normally rule out allowing individuals with unstable personal histories, let lone criminal records, from conveying guns, given the added risk that they pose to club. Why some jurisdictions restore felons' rights to carry guns is unclear, given the manifest risks that they pose on everyone else.
Ane sad feature well-nigh the current motion is that the Second Subpoena's protection of the right to keep and acquit arms is invoked to support this dubious and dangerous practice. As an initial matter, Justice Antonin Scalia's decision in that instance — which excises all reference to the "well regulated militia" — is, I recollect, wrong on historical and textual grounds. The purpose of the clause was to make sure that the federal government could not disarm state militias. At that place is no reason to remember that it practical to state regulations of firearms, or should be read that mode.
But fifty-fifty if Justice Scalia were correct, he fabricated it clear that the right to go on and behave arms was non categorical, but could exist confining in order to protect the public involvement in health and prophylactic. Why any reading of the Second Amendment is invoked in support of felon's rights to comport guns remains a sad mystery.
The proper part for gun regulation is to weed out those individuals who pose an actress risk of damage to other citizens. The lax procedures that are used to restore gun rights to ex-felons testify yet again the dangers of over-reading the Second Amendment.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/11/14/taking-and-restoring-the-rights-of-felons/misinterpreting-the-right-to-bear-arms
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