Repeal the Right to Keep and Bear Arms
How many firearm deaths will it take?
In this building lies the blame and the solution.
This page is the RKBA content that was on and is now linked on my
campaign page.
DRAFT AMENDMENT and SUBSEQUENT LEGISLATION
Phase 1 - The Amendment Resolution
Format is from H.J.RES. 438, 102nd Congress:
JOINT RESOLUTION
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States repealing
the right to keep and bear arms.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein),
That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of
the United States, which shall be valid for all intents and purposes as part
of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the
several States at any time* after the date of its submission for ratification:
'Article--
1. Any right to keep and bear arms, whether under the Second Amendment to this
Constitution, or under some pre-existing doctrine of natural law or common
law or otherwise, or under Constitution or laws of any State, is repealed.
2. The privilege to keep and bear arms throughout the United States shall be
under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.'
[ * In recent years Congress has allowed the Supreme Court to limit the
participation of Congress in the Amendment process by limiting the time
that an Amendment may be oustanding to a "reasonable" number of years.
This limitation should be rejected as unconstitutionally infringing on
the power of Congress. ]
Phase 2 - The Legislation
A Tax; Following adoption of the constitutional amendment, a bill to tax:
1. There is imposed an annual tax on each and every firearm in any household
as follows:
a. first firearm, $10
b. second firearm, $20
c. third firearm, $30
d. fourth through ninth firearms, $100 each
e. firearms in excess of the ninth, $1,000 each.
2. This tax is assessed and payable on each April 15 for firearms held by
a household at the end of the preceding year, to be paid with a schedule
listing firearm type, manufacturer and serial number, the schedule submitted
along with the tax return of such member of the household as the members of
the household may choose, with other members attaching a copy of that schedule
to their tax returns as well indicating by which member the tax will be paid.
"Household" includes all persons residing or "visiting" overnight within a
single dwelling unit -- if a visitor is reporting the firearm in a different
household that firearm shall be excluded from the schedule of firearms
reported in the visited household. A household includes real property owned
by or rented by and not rented out to others by any member of the household.
Where firearms are owned by a partnership, if there is only one general
partner the arms shall be included with the schedule of that general partner;
where there is more than one general partner, the partners shall choose
which partner will report the firearms. Where firearms are owned by a
corporation, the corporation shall report and pay tax as if it were a
household. Where fiscal years do not coincide with calendar years,
reporting shall be as of the end of the previous fiscal year.
For legitimate members of the military or law enforcement, "held by"
shall exclude firearms issued to such members by the government agency
which are currently known to be in the custody of such member by that
agency, but shall include all other firearms including firearms improperly
diverted from "evidence" or "seizures" or "confiscations". Where
firearms are owned by a legitimate museum, the museum shall report the
ownership annually as if it were a household, but shall be exempt from the
tax except for the penalties in section 4 below.
Sham transfers, that is,
transfers to a legitimate museum or to an entity with a different fiscal
year, and then back again, shall be reported and taxed as if there had
been no transfer. Sham exports, that is, export followed by reimportation
shall be reported by and taxed to the exporter as if there had been no
export. If a firearm has no serial number, the owner shall apply to the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for the assignment
of one, and upon receipt of the assigned serial number shall indelibly
engrave that number at a suitable location upon the firearm.
3. This tax may be avoided by selling the firearm to a licensed gun dealer
or by turning the firearm over to an official firearm collection location
or by export before December 31 of the prior year. Once a month such
collection locations shall turn collected firearms over to the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for destruction, except that
the Bureau may withhold from destruction such firearms as are of historical
interest for later donation to an appropriate museum. A manufacturer,
wholesaler or licensed gun dealer may avoid the tax on an individual
firearm by selling it to a licensed gun dealer or a legitimate
manufacturer or wholesaler or by the other methods in this Section by
which anyone may avoid the tax on ownership. A licensed gun dealer may
also avoid the tax on ownership of an individual firearm by selling it
to a properly screened legitimate buyer
4. Any firearm lost or stolen will incur a $1,000 penalty in the reporting
year it was lost or stolen. For any such lost or stolen firearm that is
subsequently recovered by the owner that $1,000 penalty shall be rescinded
and refunded, except if the firearm has been used in the commission of a
crime chargeable as a felony an additional $1,000 penalty will be imposed.
A $1000 penalty will also be imposed against a person owning a firearm
if the person owning the firearm or someone that person "loaned" the
firearm to uses it in the commission of a crime chargeable as a felony.
5. For each firearm sold by a licensed firearm dealer that is subsequently
used in the commission of a crime chargeable as a felony a $1,000 penalty
will be imposed against that dealer for each such year in which that firearm
was used in such a crime.
6. All conveyances of ownership of any firearm, including by inheritance, shall be through a licensed firearm dealer which shall collect a Federal conveyance tax of $100 per firearm for the transaction.
7. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Internal
Revenue Service shall jointly promulgate regulations for administering this
Act.
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WHAT WILL THIS TAX DO?
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Gun shows go away
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Private sales go away
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Straw purchases go away
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Most dealers disappear
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Inventory shrinks
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Access declines
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Thefts from private collections shrink
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Black market sources shrink
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Owners become much more protective of their firearms
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Government's incentive to monitor is generated by revenue
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Jared Loughner's favorite gun store learns to take a really good
hard proprietary insurance-motivated look at its customers; his
opportunities to make those purchases diminish and sellers who remain
would be less inclined to make his day.
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Timothy McVeigh cannot arrange to rob Roger Moore or sell the stolen guns
to finance his Oklahoma City bombing
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The type of gun dealing that supported the Branch Davidians in Waco goes
away.
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Dylan Klebold & Eric Harris would have had a more difficult time assembling
their Columbine arsenal, Seung-Hui Cho his purchases for Virginia Tech ,
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and so on.
People retain a reasonable inventory but the profligacy disappears.
REPEAL THE SECOND AMENDMENT
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Walter Shapiro's excellent salon.com article on repealing the Second Amendment
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America, The National Catholic Review, February 25, 2013, The Editors,
Repeal the Second Amendment
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William Safire, The New York Times, actually, try repealing the
preamble and see what happens (in 2 pages)
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Chicago Tribune editorial , calling for repeal
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. .
James Oliphant, The Swamp, on the Chicago Tribune editorial, reporting rather than advocating
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. .
Bob Greene.Chicago Tribune
August 23, 1993
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Richard Cohen, columnist,The Washington Post, sort of a call for repeal
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George F. Will The Baltimore Sun and other papers,
2 pages, March 21, 1991
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Don Kaul, The Houston Chronicle , reproduced at cornell.edu
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Max Castro, The Miami Herald, via commondreams.org
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Andrew Oldenquist,
The Columbus Dispatch , via
freerepublic.com
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Ivan T. Webber, The Des Moines Register , via druglibrary.org
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Frank Greene, Knoxville News Sentinel, retired Air Force Colonel
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Tommy Denton, columnist, The Roanoke Times
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Robert Klose, Repeal 2nd Amendment, Special to the BDN (Bangor Daily News), Dec. 19, 2012
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Crimson Staff, The Harvard Crimson, 2002
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. . and
2007
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Carolyn Lewis, Nieman Watchdog, Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard
University
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Benjamin Wittes, Fellow and Research Director in Public Law, Governance
Studies, [from] The New Republic, on the Brookings Institution site
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. .
brookings.edu, Is the Right to Bear Arms an Anachronism? A Governance
Studies Event, [a forum at Brookings]
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. .
CNSnews.com article on the Event
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. .
Professor Barnett
describes some of the attacks he received after the CNSnews article
went viral
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Jim Chen, Dean and Professor of Law,
Louis D. Brandeis School of Law,
University of Louisville , "The Implied Repeal of the Second Amendment by the
Fourteenth", last under "Selected works in progress", Power Point outline
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Junaid M. Afeef, attorney; also, Research Associate, Institute for Social
Policy & Understanding
, this copy is on gunowners.org , article is widely
reproduced on pro-gun sites;
more authentic but with formatting problems, on altmuslim.com
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Blogs with named authors:
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Mike Barkley (that's me), msnbc newsvine
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Ron Bynum, examiner.com
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Douglas Anthony Cooper, huffingtonpost.com, a compelling argument for the Australian Model.
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Jon Erwin-Frank, garnetdonkey.com
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By Pablo Fanque, All This Is That National Affairs Editor,
jackbrummet.blogspot.com
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Carol Forsloff, Associated Content from Yahoo
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. . and
Jesse Schmitt, Associated Content from Yahoo
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Clifford Garstang, democracyinvirginia.blogspot.com, a discussion worth having.
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Tom H. Hastings , hastingsnonviolence.blogspot.com
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Rodney Hoffman, cultivatingoutrage.blogspot.com
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Craig Jones, empyrius.blogspot.com, sarcasm? yes. satire? don't think so. . ..
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. . two other postings by him, as Empyrius
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Nicholas Katers, suite101.com
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Greg Laden, his blog on scienceblogs.com, brief & to the point
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Joe Lauria, huffingtonpost.com
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Paul Levinson, blogcritics.org
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Rich Merritt, richmerritt.wordpress.com
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Dick Meyer, CBSNews.com
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Elie Mystal, abovethelaw.com
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John Purcell, spaninquis.wordpress.com
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Mike Sacks, F1@1F, f11f.wordpress.com
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Dan Shafer, danshafer.com, call for a meaningful debate on repeal
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Norm Stamper, Former Seattle Police Chief: Repeal The 2nd Amendment (VIDEO), The Huffington Post, by John Stephens, 12/18/2012
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Paul Sterne, groundreport.com
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. .
Repeal the Second Amendment, collection of articles on groundreport.com
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Anonymous or pseudonym (?) blogs:
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James R. Adair, or unknown, progressivetheology.org
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. . and
ditto, progressivetheology.org
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. . and especially
progressivetheology.org
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Boatskipper (Brian Skinner?), boatskipper.blogspot.com
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Marcus Burke, PhD ?, stoptheworldiwannagetoff.com
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. . another comment from Marcus, at opposingviews.com
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ddjango, correntewire.com
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Eponah, eporants.blogspot.com
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General (Anthony Lieuallen ?), general.arantius.com
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Gaius Sempronius Gracchus, ggracchus.blogspot.com
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Gulliver's Island's column, newsvine.com
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journeyman , dailykos.com, "The Second Amendment is a Dangerous
Anachronism", superior rant, cites to the Federalist Papers
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Matt Kinsi (?), spiritualityandsunflowers.com, short, to the point. . . .
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PaxArcana, paxarcana.wordpress.com
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rollo (Andrew Rollason? or "The Horse", Australia), rollo75.blogspot.com, Horse280
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. . and
Horse581
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. . and
Horse864
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sherkat, iranianredneck.wordpress.com , a bit profane
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Alex Velocity ?, apraxia.net
Most topical blog comments have some responses in support ;
some blog responses call for
repeal when the lead article didn't mention it ; overall supporting responses
number in the thousands, not an avalanche, but a start.
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Letters to the editor:
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Winnie Boal, The New York Times,
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Donald Day, Ansonia, ctpost.com, Hearst, Bridgeport, CT
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Richard D. Gilman, The Boston Globe,
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Donald Greene, The New York Times, 1989 (earliest reference on this page)
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Dr. Ruth S. Hertzberg, Summit Daily News, Frisco, CO,
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Bob Judson, The Herald-Tribune, short & sweet
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Lou LaFlamme, The Providence Journal,
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John J. Pino, Daily Local News, West Chester, PA,
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Frank Thomas,
Ohio.com, the official Web site of the Akron Beacon Journal,
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Facebook groups (if not logged into Facebook, click on "Wall" on each of
these pages) - I built this list in Spring 2011; since then many have been
effectively shut down by the gun trolls:
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Repeal the Second Amendment,
group ID 21929253206 - migrated
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Official Petition to Repeal the Second Amendment,
group ID 2297523901 - open, no recent posters
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Abolish the Second Amendment!,
group ID 2302436663 - open, no recent posters
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Repeal the 2nd Amendment, Wall,
group ID 2305194547
and Discussion Board - open, no recent posters
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Repeal the Second Amendment,
group ID 2324348833 - no longer found
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Let's Repeal the Second Amendment,
group ID 2337762260 - no longer found
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Repeal the 2nd Amendment. Guns DO kill people,
group ID 2353216886 - open, no recent posters
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Repeal the Second Amendment,
group ID 2354208327 - open, no recent posters
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Can't We All Agree by Now That It's a Stupid-Ass Amendment?,
group ID 2641091512 - open, no recent posters
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Say "No" to the 2nd Amendment,
student group, group ID 31560556736 - open, no recent posters
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Repeal the Second Amendment Now!,
group ID 181463948392 - open, no recent posters
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Citizens for the Repeal of the Second Amendment,
group ID 105896052795515 - closed, no activity
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REPEAL THE SECOND AMENDMENT,
group ID 143046762420845 , with a portion of 02/2011 debate here - open, ACTIVE, restricted access, shows promise
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Repeal The Second Amendment 371249309570118, active, restricted posting
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Repeal the 2nd Amendment and replace it with reasonable Gun Laws!, group ID 124717887555341 - open, active
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Twitter:
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Books:
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Carlson Andrew (Author) ,
The Antiquated Right (Teaching Texts in Law and Politics) [Paperback], 2002,
Amazon.com review: "This book argues for the repeal of the Second Amendment
because this amendment no longer serves its original constitutional purpose,
and it disrupts the contemporary gun debate."
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Richard Labunski,
The Second Constitutional Convention: How The American People Can Take Back
Their Government 10/28/2000, review,
"...also explains why a convention should repeal the Second Amendment...."
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William Martin, The Lost Constitution, review of a novel, "A potential
'massacre' has just been averted, and a self-righteous Congresswoman intends
to use it as a springboard for legislation to repeal the Second Amendment"
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H. Richard Uviller (Author), William G. Merkel (Author),
The Militia and the Right to Arms, or, How the Second Amendment Fell Silent (Constitutional Conflicts) [Paperback], 2002,
Amazon.com [Publishers Weekly] review:
"...presents a powerful case for declaring the Second Amendment irrelevant to the issue of firearms in America...."
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Remarks by Rep, Major R. Owens in support of House Resolutions to repeal the
Second Amendment are linked below.
HOW TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION
Article V - Amendment
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary,
shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the
Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for
proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents
and Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures
of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths
thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the
Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One
thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and
fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State,
without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.
from the
U.S. Constitution Online; see also the three notes at that site on
the amendment process,
On Congressional repeal efforts, per the Library of Congress "THOMAS"
service,
H.J.RES.438 [text] , 102nd Congress : Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States repealing the Second Amendment to the Constitution.
Sponsor:
Rep Owens, Major R. [Wikipedia link] [NY-12] (introduced 3/11/1992), Cosponsors (None)
Committees: House Judiciary
Latest Major Action: 7/8/1992 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights.
For "All Information", click on "Bill Summary & Status" button and then on
the All Information button.
Rep. Owens' comments on introducing the Resolution, Including H1168 - H1170, from FidoNet via Tom Jennings' wps.com [unlike RES.81 below, introductory remarks don't appear to be linked on Thomas , so....]
For the official version of pp. H1168-H1170, Remarks on introduction, a direct
link fails because Thomas times out [a database, not text pages?], so,
go to the Thomas site,
click on "Congressional Record",
click on "102" for 102nd Congress,
put "H1168" in the Enter Search block and hit the Search button,
find "LEGISLATION CALLING FOR REPEAL OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION (House of Representatives - March 11, 1992)" and click on it,
Click on "Beginning" for the bulk of it,
Click on "Good Instinct, Wrong Policy--Don't Touch the Bill of Rights" for the
last little piece of remarks following the Newsday editorial that Rep.
Owens read into the record.
H.J.Res.81, 103d Congress
Rep Owens, Major R. [NY-11] (introduced 1/27/1993)
Introductory remarks on this site, or click on
"All Congressional Actions" on that page, and there, click on "2/4/1993:
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H536-539) " and then on
"Beginning". Thomas times out on a direct link which is actually a search
result.,
Representative Owens:
"I introduced this amendment, this bill to repeal the second amendment last
year. I have a mountain of mail that does not involve civilized dialog at
all. There is all kinds of name-calling, all kinds of retreats to bigotry,
all kinds of things that happen in the mountain of mail opposed to the
amendment. There are, of course, people who are for it, but those who
oppose it are particularly violent, particularly profane, particularly racist."
Representative Major R. Owens is an unsung hero of the 20th Century.
H.J.RES.98, 104th Congress Rep Owens, Major R. [NY-11] (introduced
6/27/1995) to clarify the meaning of the Second Amendment
"...shall be construed as a right of States and not of individuals."
[Remarks not yet found]
H.J.RES.61, 105th Congress Rep Owens, Major R. [NY-11] (introduced
3/6/1997) same clarification [Remarks not yet found]
HATE MAIL:
Ground Report - busted link
--Mike Barkley, 167 N. Sheridan Ave., Manteca, CA 95336 (H) 209/823-4817
mjbarkl@inreach.com
No more excuses! - Cure Multiple Sclerosis now!
(c) 2012, Mike Barkley