So Few Americans Understand What the Second Amendment Is Really About—or Its Dark History
By Thom Hartmann A...
With the crazed assault in Las Vegas that killed over 50 and wounded hundreds as only the most recent example, America's gun violence problem has reached a breaking point, and while we can talk all we want about assault weapons bans, universal background checks, and terror watch lists, there's only one real solution to this problem: We need to repeal the Second Amendment.
This, of course, is completely unacceptable to Republicans, but that's because they don't know the real the history of the Second Amendment, and the real history of the Second Amendment is as ugly as it gets.
Thanks to corporate media's unquestioning regurgitation of right-wing talking points, most Americans think that Second Amendment is in the Constitution to protect the rights of individual gun owners from the government.
But that's not even remotely true.
The "Second Amendment" as we know it today is a legal fiction invented by the gun industry and their buddies on the Supreme Court and sold to Americans by an expensive multi-decade-long PR campaign.
Despite what you might hear on Fox So-Called news, there actually was no "individual right to own a gun" until 2008, when the Supreme Court said there was in its decision in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller.
That decision, which struck down Washington, D.C.'s handgun ban, was the culmination of a decades-long push by the gun industry to twist the Second Amendment into something that would help it sell more weapons, and it had zero basis in real Constitutional history.
Read more here.
Comments
#2
Perfect irony, Nomastrump. Well said -- a joy to read!
#3
Oh deepspace.
I never said Thom advocated banning the private ownership of firearms. But he did advocate in his blog the "repeal of the 2nd Amendment". Now why would anyone want to do that other than to create a path to the banning the private ownership of firearms. There simply is no other reason.
You use the phrase "outdated 2nd Amendment". That is your opinion. It is neither outdated nor misinterpreted. In fact it is more relevant now than ever before.
Here is a "factually incorrect" statement from Thom. He states that the republicans do not know the "real" history of the 2nd Amendment. That is demonstrably false. However, I guess you and him feel that the only correct version of the history of the 2nd Amendment is the left wing version. Sorry, that dog don't hunt.
So you built an AR-15 from scratch? With all the advanced bells and whistles available at that time? I sincerely hope you sold it for a loss because otherwise you are as much of a hypocrite as others here who are outraged that the firearms manufacturers, who sell their products for a profit.
Finally, here is a sumation of all you lefties who claim:
"NOBODY IS TRYING TO TAKE AWAY YOUR GUNS"
Except we want you to register your guns.
Restrict transfers.
Ban certain guns.
Limit magazine capacity.
Prohibit the carrying of firearms.
Limit or ban ammunition.
Make arbitrary laws covering cosmetic features.
And if we catch you violating any of the above, we will throw you in prison;
at which point we will take your guns.
K2
#4
1. The horse is actually full of bull. I seriously doubt he/she has ever touched a firearm.
2. Hartmann has slipped up more than once and stated on the air that if he had his way all guns would be taken and destroyed.
3. Who gives a bag of rancid oats what a few malcontent leftie/socialists think, it ain't gonna happen anyway.
#5
Thanks Diane,
Honestly I have never listend to Hartmann on the radio. I do visit his website from time to time to keep up with the usual left wing nonsense. All the democrat talking points straight from the democrat political playbook can be found here. They offer nothing new. Society's problems are never their fault. Yet liberals are a significant reason for society's ills. Liberals scream at the top of their lungs everytime a mass shooting takes place but are totally silent when millions of unborn babies are aborted each year. In fact they cheer it. Then they wonder why someone commits mass murder. They are the biggest hypocrites of all.
Oh they will come after me for equating a woman's "right to choose" with a mass murderer. Let them. There is more blood on their hands than anyone else. The NRA had nothing to do with the Las Vegas shooter. The NRA was not in his room. The NRA did not supply the shooter with guns and ammo. The Las Vegas shooter violated numerous laws, including modifying a semi-auto rifle into an automatic rifle and cold-blooded murder. Now the liberals want us to believe that more guns laws are needed to stop these atrocities. And they say we conservatives are stupid???
K2
#6
Whoa, trolls poppin' up everywhere! Fetch Negan's "Lucille!" YES! "I feeel your hatred! Let it flow through you, boy!"
Haha -- no really, you guys & gals did a pretty good job this time around doin' the same 'ol song and dance routine. Good reads, insults and all. Hey, c'mon, it's fun, right? Animated true believers who go gun crazy and express anger so eloquently are a hoot!
And what better issue to get real sh*t from the heart instead of programmed sh*t from the head. One can respect honest feelings, if not slippery-slope mental gymnastics and false assumptions based on nothing but pure, fact-free opinions.
I've already said my piece for what it's worth -- obviously not much in a troll brain (which is cool; the sentiment is reciprocal). Can't really add much else, other than to clarify the record a bit ...if anyone really cares.
First, I've never said that owning legal firearms is bad or that it should not be a right for law-abiding, responsible citizens, who deserve the freedom to shoot stuff to their heart's content, as long as it isn't hurting anyone or anything.
Nor do I think that the Second Amendment, however misinterpreted, should be abolished. I thought that was pretty clear -- what part of "it's a bridge too far" do you not get?
I grew up in the mountains in a rural area and have been around guns all of my life. Right now, I own three, try to keep proficient, and enjoy doing so. Never have I equivocated about that.
BTW, picking your butt in public reveals your inner self, Killasquid. Not everyone thinks like you -- thank God! Your knee-jerk insinuations are easy-to-read tells. Evidently, you believe profiting on death is normal behavior. I hate to be the one to break this to you, but you're in a psychopathic minority, and such attitudes disgust normal people.
Sorry, my Ar-15 was never about money; it was just a stupid toy that lost its allure after Sandy Hook and became bad mojo. In fact, I did take a substantial loss, but it was still a good deal in my mind, because I got rid of the damn thing, and my buddy was glad to use it for training, which was a good thing for him. Did I ever say anyone else must feel or act like me? No. That's just more of your own self-projection.
But to deny, in so many words, that this country has a grave, very serious problem with the weakly regulated proliferation of military-grade weapons, where almost any crazy bastard has easy access to commit mass murder, is just plain stupid! And, puh-lease; the NRA is nothing but a lobbyist and toady, raising money to bribe and blackmail politicians, and spreading lies for an unconscionable industry that seeks profit above all else.
Sure, all the hyperbolic outrage is entertaining on one level; but then, you realize that in all of the loud indignation about the SUPPOSED lost rights of gun-totin', middle-aged, mostly white guys with beer guts (Oh cry me a f*cking river!) the ACTUAL lost rights of hapless victims mowed down in their own streets is hardly ever mentioned? Another glaring tell.
In fact you'd be hard pressed to pick out of the troll droppings above any sympathy at all for the shocking carnage that just happened right in front of us. Instead, It's all: "OMG, the Democrats are gonna take our guns!" Please demonstrate when exactly the Democratic Party has ever introduced legislation to do that in their entire history.
They've done nothing but try to inject some sanity into the process, especially when it comes to these rapid-fire instruments of terror and death. Republicans bitterly oppose sanity ...because they're f*cking nuts!
Wake up! Fix the goddamn broken links in the chain! Jaysus, why is that such a hard concept to fathom for Fux heads?!
#7
False police reports should be taken seriously.
#8
So sad! I speak about the #2ndamendment in my book #thejudgesoath; available thru #amazon. https://www.facebook.com/The-Judges-Oath-435090813216781/
#9
Speaking out is so hard! Watch my video about my book The Judges Oath @ https://www.facebook.com/cheryl.kelmar/videos/10203874677103994/
#10
In my book #thejudgesoath., I speak about the 2nd Amendment regarding one woman
#11
Gee, ErinRose , I thought the purpose of the second amendment was to protect the people against tyrannical rule. Yet you see it as the basis for vigilantism and self-defense. In any case, that's quite the fantasy you've conjured there. If the mafia has become so intent on extorting your money, and your weapons are holding them at bay, why haven't they simply set fire to your house, or started a firefight which I'm sure they would win because they would obviously have many times the resources you would? It's not a good idea joining an intellectual forum armed only with hysteria.
#12
If not relevant anymore, then why is it so often attacked with ignorance?
#13
Well said.....and they don't want to "think about the purpose of the original Bill Of Rights... these amendments were all restrictions on FEDERAL power..."so while the 2nd amendment acknowledges the article 1 ability to regulate the militias, the bill of rights gets right to the main point..... to set the LIMITS on that regulation by clearly pronouncing the Right of the people to keep and bear arms SHALL NOT be Infringed.....
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
By webmaster
Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
Images of Thom
Thom & Louise at a "private audience" with His Holiness Pope John Paul II at his summer palace, Castle Gandolfo, Italy
At Mondragon - both the mountain and the cooperative city - in Spain (written about in "Threshold" book)
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"Right through the worst of the Bush years and into the present, Thom Hartmann has been one of the very few voices constantly willing to tell the truth. Rank him up there with Jon Stewart, Bill Moyers, and Paul Krugman for having the sheer persistent courage of his convictions."
From Screwed:
"Hartmann speaks with the straight talking clarity and brilliance of a modern day Tom Paine as he exposes the intentional and systematic destruction of America’s middle class by an alliance of political con artists and outlines a program to restore it. This is Hartmann at his best. Essential reading for those interested in restoring the institution that made America the envy of the world."
From Unequal Protection, 2nd Edition:
"Beneath the success and rise of American enterprise is an untold history that is antithetical to every value Americans hold dear. This is a seminal work, a godsend really, a clear message to every citizen about the need to reform our country, laws, and companies."
aka Chelsea Clinton: Free speech works both ways; ergo, I'm free to call the balls and strikes and (mostly) outs of your ridiculous, fact-free opinions on a public forum, just as you are free to post to your little heart's content. When have I ever indicated otherwise, prey tell? I only ask why you bother, out of genuine curiosity of what truly motivates right-wingers to flock to liberal/progressive blogs, such as this one. In fact, I love it when you let out enough rope to hang yourself. Just like every other Fuxed-up Trump troll, you wear ignorance as a badge of honor. By all means, keep the "hits" coming -- very entertaining!
(BTW, I'm pretty sure, if memory serves correctly, that it was "mommy the monitor" who was judging from on high the tone and flow of conversation of us lowly progressives and liberals, which is what more than likely inspired that so-well deserved retort.)
And, needless to say, it's a recurring mental disorder of Trump trolls that they cannot distinguish fact from opinion. I wholeheartedly stand by what I said then and now. Taking what someone else says out of the context of a previous thread -- again -- (which doesn't support whatever you're trying to insinuate now) is another chronic psychopathy that trolls suffer. Plus, the fact that you have offered no specifics to refute a goddamn thing in # 48, (because you can't, realistically anyway) is taken as a tacit admission of every point's veracity. So thank you for verifying the simple truth.
HC: Thank you too. The picture proves that Thom's left thumb is safely below the action. Personally, I prefer to place my shooting hand into the palm of my other hand, primarily for stability.
However, while adopting this go-to position to use almost unconsciously through repetitive training, the Army (my battle-hardened trainers anyway) also taught us during advanced infantry training many other stances and holds to use to lay down suppressing fire during lightening fast, intense tactical operations, in which ideal circumstances for "posing" weren't always practical. With a 45, this included standing, kneeling, laying, ducking, diving, rolling, left-handed, right-handed, single handed, from the hip, over the head, you name it. Reacting quickly no matter your position is a matter of life and death. One must remain versatile and flexible at all times.