I’d especially like to hear the thoughts of any state legislators.
1. Do you believe the 2nd Amendment guarantees the right of an individual to own a gun?
2. If the answer to the above is yes, what restrictions do you think should be considered acceptable? So, what kind of guns? How many? Where can an individual possess a gun? What about licenses? Liability insurance? What else should ownership be predicated upon?
3. If the answer to question 1 is no, why do you believe this given the wording of the amendment and the Supreme Court decisions that have examined the 2nd Amendment?
Thanks.
For reference on the scope of the second amendment, please see http://willbrownsberger.com/issues/gun-violence-2/ where I post links to the most recent major cases.
Will, I don’t think that really answers the questions. Obviously answering some of these would belie how you intend to vote on some upcoming bills, and maybe you’re still researching those.
Another way to answer these questions would be to state whether you (or anyone else here) thinks the new bills from Patrick and Linsky and current MA firearm laws are valid under the 2nd Amendment.
To be clear, sure, the 2d amendment as interpreted by the present Supreme Court, which is the law of the land, does guaranty the right of most people (not felons, etc.) to own a gun, even a handgun, for self-defense purposes.
As to what additional procedures and limits we should place on that in Massachusetts — where, in fact, we have pretty strict gun laws — that is the subject of our conversation on this website and in the legislature and we’ll nail it down over the coming months.