Hook686,
I for one am not going to defer to how a particular court rules as to whether something is constitutional or not. After all, the Constitution was not written in a mysterious language that only the legal elites can understand. Most anyone can understand quite well what the Constitution, or more specifically the Bill of Rights, means.
The courts are known to twist the plain meaning of the Constitution to suit their purposes. What would you say if the courts ruled that the 1st Amendment doesn't apply to political speech? Would you defer to their judgment then?
All of that is somewhat tangential to our discussion, though. We are talking about the BATFE; I may be mistaken, but I do not believe the constitutionality of the BATFE has ever been addressed in a court. What I believe is crystal-clear is that the Constitution specifically proscribes the limits of the federal government's power, and the BATFE falls outside of those limits, and is therefore unconstitutional. The 2nd Amendment says our rights shall not be infringed, and the BATFE definitely infringes on our 2nd Amendment rights.
Dirkster ... We are different people, with different belief systems. This is clear to me. I would, and do, defer to a ruling by a court. To me, the constitution lays out a 'process' of government. When I start obviating that process, I become the one acting in an unconstitutional manner.
As I understand it, the federal courts have ruled that a federal agency, such as BATFA, is the master of its Regulations, which certainly must not be in violation of law, especially the 'Law of the Land'. If you think the BATFA is in violation of law, then you do have a process for ameliorating the matter.
infringe - Main Entry:infringe
Pronunciation:in-frinj
Function:verb
Inflected Form:infringed ; infringing
Etymology:Medieval Latin infringere, from Latin, to break, crush, from in- + frangere to break — more at BREAK
Date:1513
transitive verb
1 : to encroach upon in a way that violates law or the rights of another *infringe a patent*
2 obsolete : DEFEAT, FRUSTRATE
intransitive verb : ENCROACH — used with on or upon *infringe on our rights*
synonyms see TRESPASS
–infringer noun
It sure seems to me that it is the courts, not individual citizens, that our constitution establishes as the whether, or not, law has been violated. Until that time, is not the BATFA innocent of wrong doing ?
My reference to my view of the Bush Administration is much an assessment that individuals are deciding the meaning of law, The President referred to himself as the 'Decider', as I recall). Somehow I view this to be more like the Taliban, than a constitutional republic.
As I said, we obviously see things different. I support the 'Law of the Land', and those lesser laws so lawfully rendered. If this means that some day that the only legal firearm to own, would be a Brown Bess, then I reckon I'd buy a Brown Bess.
