Luger_carbine
Member
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2012
- Messages
- 77
Thomas makes a lot of claims, he doesn't do a good job of supporting the claims logically or otherwise.
Thomas says:
There is not a whole lot there except to say "I'm right because I'm right" He makes an oblique mention of some Heller verbiage which says "nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions,” which it labeled as “presumptively lawful" and Thomas tries to parlay that into meaning that SCOTUS meant to say that except for firearms in one's own home SCOTUS never meant for Heller to overturn gun control laws outside of the home - and they as much as said so. The other half of his argument is a return to rational basis for evaluating the case.
I think the dissent is weak, and it is weak for a reason, Thomas cherry picks phrases out of Helller while avoiding the meat of the issue, which is the question - does the Second Amendment identify self defense as a core right and being armed to defend one's self as a core right. If RTKBA is a core right then you have to treat it as a core right and Thomas' failure to deal with that is why his dissent is so weak.
Not coincidentally it is also the same reason that the majority opinion in Woollard is so weak - Davis and King were intellectually dishonest because they don't like guns and don't want an armed society. They ruled against Woollard first and then thought up a way to spin it afterwards.
Thomas says:
When we examine the justification provided for the policy, coupled with Heller’s direction, our conclusion must be that the County’s policy is constitutional.
There is not a whole lot there except to say "I'm right because I'm right" He makes an oblique mention of some Heller verbiage which says "nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions,” which it labeled as “presumptively lawful" and Thomas tries to parlay that into meaning that SCOTUS meant to say that except for firearms in one's own home SCOTUS never meant for Heller to overturn gun control laws outside of the home - and they as much as said so. The other half of his argument is a return to rational basis for evaluating the case.
I think the dissent is weak, and it is weak for a reason, Thomas cherry picks phrases out of Helller while avoiding the meat of the issue, which is the question - does the Second Amendment identify self defense as a core right and being armed to defend one's self as a core right. If RTKBA is a core right then you have to treat it as a core right and Thomas' failure to deal with that is why his dissent is so weak.
Not coincidentally it is also the same reason that the majority opinion in Woollard is so weak - Davis and King were intellectually dishonest because they don't like guns and don't want an armed society. They ruled against Woollard first and then thought up a way to spin it afterwards.