Crying victimization in the media yet again, this time to Politico. Jim Zumbo accepted his career’s public hanging with more grace and class, and at least tried to make things right. And what Zumbo said was a lot worse. He’s continuing to feed the narrative of a gun rights movement dominated by extremists and foaming mad dogs to our enemies who are the media.
The existing body of literature and legal precedent on the Second Amendment is much like the Bible: One can find something to support nearly any agenda. Even the Founders themselves wrote many different things at different times (with commas in different places) about what they meant by a Right to Keep and Bear Arms. Or by “well regulated.†Or by “militia.†I wish more people would actually read those writings.
The problem is that a lot of us have read those writings, and there absolutely no support for your take on the meaning of “well-regulated” in late 18th century usage, or support for the idea that the exercise of the right could be preconditioned on something like a training requirement. It could be argued that the American gun culture of the late 18th century was very different from today, and I would even agree with many points in that regard, but the fact is there were no laws around that time that preconditioned the rights exercise on training. There was mandatory militia service, but that was a function of the state’s military powers, not its police powers.
Both sides believe they have the American mainstream on their side. But when Second Amendment supporters argue it is unconstitutional to bar convicted felons from acquiring guns, the American mainstream stops listening. When Second Amendment supporters argue it is unconstitutional to require any training whatsoever before carrying a concealed firearm in public, the American mainstream stops listening.
Except you weren’t writing for the American mainstream. You were writing for subscribers of Guns & Ammo. I might believe the courts are unlikely to strike down training requirements, but you basically said that we ought to like it. I don’t. Much like prior restraints can’t be constitutionally placed on speech, I don’t believe they ought to be constitutionally placed on the right to bear arms either. While I generally share Metcalfe’s concern about not pushing so far that the American mainstream will lash back, I’m willing to argue until I’m blue in the face that the Second Amendment ought to be treated as equals among rights, and that means not creating special conditions that would never fly with other rights, prior restrains being among them.