I'm not Gary, but thought readers here would find this interesting. Libertyteeth
From: Gary Marbut-MSSA <
[email protected]>
To:
[email protected]
Dear MSSA Friends,
A letter to the editor from Montana's Secretary of State Brad Johnson
was printed in the Washington Times today making the argument that a
collective rights decision in the Heller case would violated the
contract by which Montana entered into statehood, a unique argument
unmentioned in the many briefs submitted over the Heller case.
The text of Brad's letter is pasted below.
The Resolution this letter speaks of is posted at:
http://www.progunleaders.org
Gary Marbut, president
Montana Shooting Sports Association
http://www.mtssa.org
author, Gun Laws of Montana
http://www.mtpublish.com
=======================
Second Amendment an individual right
The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide D.C. v. Heller, the first
case in more than 60 years in which the court will confront the
meaning of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Although
Heller is about the constitutionality of the D.C. handgun ban, the
court's decision will have an impact far beyond the District
("Promises breached," Op-Ed, Thursday).
The court must decide in Heller whether the Second Amendment secures
a right for individuals to keep and bear arms or merely grants states
the power to arm their militias, the National Guard. This latter view
is called the "collective rights" theory.
A collective rights decision by the court would violate the contract
by which Montana entered into statehood, called the Compact With the
United States and archived at Article I of the Montana Constitution.
When Montana and the United States entered into this bilateral
contract in 1889, the U.S. approved the right to bear arms in the
Montana Constitution, guaranteeing the right of "any person" to bear
arms, clearly an individual right.
There was no assertion in 1889 that the Second Amendment was
susceptible to a collective rights interpretation, and the parties to
the contract understood the Second Amendment to be consistent with
the declared Montana constitutional right of "any person" to bear arms.
As a bedrock principle of law, a contract must be honored so as to
give effect to the intent of the contracting parties. A collective
rights decision by the court in Heller would invoke an era of
unilaterally revisable contracts by violating the statehood contract
between the United States and Montana, and many other states.
Numerous Montana lawmakers have concurred in a resolution raising
this contract-violation issue. It's posted at
<http://www.progunleaders.org>progunleaders.org. The United States
would do well to keep its contractual promise to the states that the
Second Amendment secures an individual right now as it did upon
execution of the statehood contract.
BRAD JOHNSON
Montana secretary of state
Helena, Mont.
The Resolution this letter speaks of is posted at:
http://www.progunleaders.org
Montana, the Second Amendment and D.C. v. Heller
Explanation for this page:
The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of D.C. v. Heller,
the first case in 70 years in which the Court will squarely addressed the
meaning of the Second Amendment. The core question is whether the Second
Amendment secures an individual right to keep and bear arms, or if it merely
protects a right for the states to arm their National Guards, known as
the "collective rights" theory.
Many entities will submit amicus briefs, but Montana has not been able to
submit an amicus concerning the states' contract argument because of time and
money.
The purpose of this argument is to demonstrate that if the Court should hold
the Secondment Amendment to be a "collective right," that position will open
a can of worms concerning states, and concerning contracts.
The Resolution concurred in by many elected Montana officials is here
http://www.progunleaders.org/resolution.html
The argument about Montana's contract and the Second Amendment is here
http://www.progunleaders.org/argument.html
The list of officials concurring individually (to date) in this Resolution is
here
http://www.progunleaders.org/officials.html
=======================================================
Briefs in re Heller submitted by various parties
http://www.progunleaders.org/briefs.html.
