Fictional Character Quoted as Authoritative on Second Amendment

Having observed debates about the Second Amendment for 50 years, it is surprising to find something new. Tosten Burks, writing at good.is, uses a quote from a fictional character as an authoritative source on the Second Amendment. From good.is:

The Constitution’s most controversial amendment reads: “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.” The NRA has spent much of the past 40 years broadening the interpretation to expand the gun market.

The original intent, however, is best explained by Aaron Sorkin’s West Wing character Toby Ziegler, who put it in more liberal terms: “The words ‘regulated’ and ‘militia’ are in the first sentence. I don’t think the framers were thinking of three guys in a Dodge Durango.”

Using a fictional source when there have been volumes of scholarly research written about the subject is rather amusing, especially since the quote is so content free.

Burks deserves some credit. He is writing from Los Angeles, so his environment is decidedly anti-rights. He gets some things horribly wrong.

He states, as a matter of fact, that “stand your ground” was important in the George Zimmerman trial. 

Also known as the “shoot first” law, Stand Your Ground enables the right to use deadly force in self-defense. This was George Zimmerman’s successful argument for fatally shooting Trayvon Martin.

But Zimmerman’s defense team never used the “stand your ground” defense, nor was it relevant in the case.

Burks claims that the Kel-Tec PMR-30 is a favorite among concealed carriers. That was a surprise to me.  He also calls the SIG MCX an “assault rifle”, but is careful to differentiate the Smith & Wesson M&P-15 as a semi-automatic rifle.

Most of his characterizations of concealed carry, open carry, castle doctrine, and stand your ground laws are adequate.  He does a decent job of directing people to Pink Pistols, The Well Armed Woman, and  The National African American Gun Association.  I suspect he would have included Jews for the Protection of Firearms Ownership if he would have found it on his Internet searches.

I found the article more amusing than discouraging. My impression is that Burks is a well intentioned writer who is severely hampered by his “progressive” information bubble.  The least informed parts of his article are ubiquitous false narratives in his environment.  He has no idea that the “collective right” theory of the Second Amendment was invented by the “progressive” Kansas Supreme Court in 1905, without any precedent being cited. He has no idea the Sig MCX and  S&W M&P-15 rifles, operate pretty much the same way, and are treated the same by most legislative bodies.

It would have been nice if comments were allowed at the site, It appears that Burks can be educated. Unfortunately, there was no provision for commenting.

©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
 
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