The whole Second Amendment

Mr. Lanier rightly rejects the idea that the Constitution is a menu "from which you can pick only the Articles or Amendments you like." On the other hand, he leaves out the crucial first part of the Second Amendment that reads, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State..." 

The Second Amendment is just one sentence, and it's disingenuous to leave half of that sentence out of his citation: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." 

Hence, given the actual text of the Second Amendment, the alleged constitutional right of the individual to own a gun has not been upheld by the Supreme Court.

From: Wayne Lanier (w_lanier@pacbell.net)

To: Home@prosf.org

Subject: Violating the Constitution

Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2005

This quote from the Washington Post of October 24th shows exactly what happens when our Constitution is violated: "The FBI has conducted clandestine surveillance on some U.S. residents for as long as 18 months at a time without proper paperwork or oversight, according to previously classified documents to be released today. Records turned over as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit also indicate that the FBI has investigated hundreds of potential violations related to its use of secret surveillance operations, which have been stepped up dramatically since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks but are largely hidden from public view." The Constitution is not a "menu" from which you can pick only the Articles or Amendments you like. No matter how much you hate or fear some right protected by the Constitution, if you violate any one, you pave the way for someone else to violate another. 

No doubt these FBI folks believe they are justified in the name of "security." Just as Supervisors Supervisors C. Daly, B. Dufty, and T. Ammiano feel Proposition H is justified by their need for political advancement and their supporters feel is justified in the name of "security". How can this San Francisco Daly-Dufty-Ammiano "Gang of Three" object to the FBI trampling the rights in Amendments I, IV, and VI when they casually propose violating the right in Amendment II? Any violation by any member of government at any level makes that person no different from dictators in Asian, Latin American, or the Middle-eastern countries who daily violate constitutions promising the same rights. Daly-Dufty-Ammiano and Proposition H are well suited to the world of Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld and "Homeland Security".

W