Something to tick off everyone - Guns and Coal

By: aznew
Published On: 3/19/2008 8:50:33 AM

Attorney General and probably future Gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell gave a talk yesterday to students at the Appalachian School of Law. He was a guest of the Federalist Society.

The Federalist Society should be banned from law schools. Not because I disagree with its points of view, but because its views on the laws are so convoluted and illogical that actually listening to them constitutes a negative learning experience that schools then have to spend anywhere from several weeks to a couple of months undoing.

Of course, the AG addressed Heller v. District of Columbia. Here is the article -- more comment on the flip:

http://www.registerbee.com/ser...
Like the Court's Conservative Quartet, McDonnell strains to square the circle of the individual right to bear arms that he sees in the Constitution with the common sense need for regulating the ownership, possession and use of firearms in modern society.

So, in McDonnell's construction, there is an individual right to bear arms that can be limited by a school's board of visitors.

That doesn't sound like much of a right to me.

The Court should have the courage of its convictions. If there is an individual right to bear arms, then the Supreme Court should say so. I should, therefore, be able to purchase and carry a gun without interference of the government. If I can't, then it is not a right.

Personally, I don't see the individual right in the Constitution, mainly because finding it requires us to simply ignore the conditional clause in the 2nd Amendment (concerning a "well-regulated militia"), and I don't think we should just ignore the inconvenient parts of the Constitution.

And then, for extra credit, McDonnell also spoke about his support for the Wise County coal-fired power plant. I don't really follow this particular issue too closely, but I know it is of concern to many folks here.


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