U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “When the Supreme Court first declared an individual right to gun ownership more than a decade ago, the court’s conservative majority relied on founding-era legal history to invalidate a D.C. law banning firearm possession in the home,” legal affairs “reporter,” Ann E. Marimow writes, relying on ubiquitous talking points and reader ignorance to perpetuate a lie. “Justice Antonin Scalia’s 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller drew fire from some conservatives who said the court was creating an individual right to gun ownership that it was not clear the Constitution granted.”
That’s two lies. I’ll get to them both in a second.
The intent, of course, is a renewed effort to resurrect a pre-Heller gun-grabber argument that said the Founders never intended for the Second Amendment to apply to individuals, but only to a “well regulated militia.” That used to be the main argument the antis used, and one they presented to the court only to see it rejected. For a while, they grudgingly acknowledged the court’s individual rights finding and focused on exploiting Justice Antonin Scalia’s wholly unnecessary concessions on rights not being absolute and thus subject to calculated infringements. But now, the antis are back doing a full-court press trying to invalidate that decision and revive the “collective right” meme.
Now back to the two lies.
Lie One: “[T]he Supreme Court first declared an individual right to gun ownership” in Heller. Nonsense. From Dred Scott v. Sanford (1856):
“It would give to persons of the negro race, who were recognised as citizens in any one State of the Union, the right to … keep and carry arms wherever they went.”
Lie Two: “[T]he court was creating an individual right to gun ownership that it was not clear the Constitution granted.”
We see the Sanford court made the same false presumption, which was since corrected in the 1876 U.S. v. Cruikshank case and cited in Heller. Note that even though Cruikshank was ultimately overruled in part, one fundamental truth pertaining to the Second Amendment remains intact:
“This is not a right granted by the Constitution. Neither is it in any manner dependent upon that instrument for its existence.”
Marimow, of course, as a legal writer knows all this, and knows how to craft an argument to persuade people hearing only her side of it, especially those who don’t know any better. Having her writings amplified on forums like MSN, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post, among others, the readership she influences and misinforms is immense. And her views – the same as the citizen disarmament lobby’s with its billionaire-funded Astroturf gun grab groups — are parroted by every mainstream media conglomerate out there, almost completely dominating what the public is exposed to.
Conversely, the truth is confined to specialty publications with limited reach and niche readerships. It’s further hampered by a social media cancel culture that threatens to suppress it even further when hostile CDC junk science in the making will be used by “fact-checker” censors to “justify” expelling anything that does not advance the approved narrative.
That’s led some to complain that articles attempting to correct the record aren’t effective because they’re “preaching to the choir.”
If only this assumption was true.
The choir is comprised of the volunteers up there doing the work, singing. These are the people who learn the music and the words and the programs. They take significant time out from their demanding professional and personal lives to practice, learn, and perform. And they’ll do it again next week, and the next.
When we come across ridiculous claims like an individual rights interpretation of the Second Amendment is new, or rights are granted, or that citizen disarmament makes us safer, it’s incumbent on each of us to join in and add our voices. The truth can’t set us free if we know it’s being buried and do nothing to dig it out and share it.
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
