Heller Has More Friends
Not that numbers mean all that much, but in the landmark case at the Supreme Court, District of Columbia vs. Heller, 45 organizations have filed amici briefs in support of Heller. That's more than twice as many as were filed by the anti-gun activists supporting D.C.
The pro-Second Amendment crowd have a definite edge in big names and intellectual heft as well. The authors of the pro-Heller amici briefs are a constellation of rising stars, men and women with serious weight between their ears.
It also looks like the Heller folks have done a much better job of coordinating their briefs and delegating specific tasks amongst those filing. Some are focused on linguistics, some on history. Some briefs look at crime trends, others at defensive uses. One, which I've looked forward to reading, is called the Error Brief by insiders. Its sole task is to point to the outright mistakes included by the District and its allies.
D.C.'s got academics. So does Heller.
D.C.'s got political bigwigs, 18 of them. Heller's got 300, and bigger names.
The district has former Attorneys General, so does Heller.
In the latter category, though, the District clearly leads in terms of AGs with experience.
After all, Janet Reno has actually used guns on completely innocent American citizens, so she brings a truly unique view to the case. From Ms. Reno's perspective even one gun outside the government's control is too many.
I've read nearly a dozen of the Heller briefs so far. Several of them raise the possibility of a future tyrannical government as a bedrock reason the founders included the Second Amendment among the ten that allowed ratification. I'm almost wishing that one of the amici briefs had mentioned Ruby Ridge or the tanks of Waco as examples of how close we've come to seeing a faction of government tip out of control.
Waco, where 80 men, women and children were killed by federal agents, remains the deadliest action taken by the government against American citizens on U. S. soil since the Civil War. AG Reno pulled the trigger.
RELATED LINKS:
Heller's Friends: The Doctors' Prescription
Heller's Friends in Congress, And One More
Heller’s Friends: Claremont Institute and the Scholars
The Heller Posse: A Roundup of Briefs: The NRA
Heller: The Good Guys Shoot Back, With Effect
On Heller: Shot in the Back by the Bush DOJ
For even more on the case and the subject, click here.
I wonder whose idea it was to let Reno into the discussion? Stupid, stupid.
4 comments:
BUAIDH NO BAS!
This is the one I've waited 50 years for, pray they get it right.
Tsiya -- The Heller folks have done a superb job, one that couldn't have been accomplished even 20 years ago. The intellectual support just wasn't there. Today it is, and it's extremely powerful.
For myself, victory is the better of the two choices.
-- Bob
Bob, which brief are you referring to as the "Error Brief"? Is it the crime statistics brief you mention above? The history brief from Academics for the Second Amendment (BTW, I eagerly await your take on that one)? Or some other I haven't checked yet?
Your commentary has been very illuminating and incisive, and I thank you for it.
DJMoore -- The insiders refer to the brief from the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms as the "Error Brief."
I've read it, and it's good in that it collects in one place several of the major mistakes, oversights and misrepresentations made by the District and its allies.
I had intended to review it, but may not as nearly all of its points are also included in the briefs by others. If you've read most of my reviews, you seen everything CCRKBA includes.
For those who would like to read it, you'll find it at http://www.gurapossessky.com/news/
parker/documents/07290bsacCitizensCommittee.PDF
Thanks for reading The Canticle.
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