Backed by a national wave of revulsion from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, President Obama asked Congress to ban assault rifles and high-capacity ammunition magazines, such as was used in the massacre. While some have marched in favor of the assault weapons ban, others have marched -- toting their guns -- against it, viewing the ban as an attack on their Second Amendment right. But that right to keep and bear arms has always had limits. To begin with, the Second Amendment itself limits that right to the purpose of joining a "well regulated Militia." That limit had been well-settled law until 2008, when the Supreme Court in a 5-4 ruling declared further Constitutional rights, such as self-defense by handgun. But even that new reading upheld limits, such as "prohibiting the carrying of dangerous and unusual weapons." And even an unstable gun rights zealot that sees himself taking up arms against a tyrannical U.S. government can admit to a Second Amendment limit. We find a case of that in the movie "Bowling for Columbine," where James Nichols, brother of Terry, the convicted Oklahoma City terror bombing conspirator, showed filmmaker Michael Moore off-camera how crazy he was by putting his under-the-pillow .44 Magnum to his own head.
Moore: Mm, put the hammer back.
Nichols: No one has the right to tell me I can't have it. That is protected on our constitution.
Moore: Where does it say a handgun is protected?
Nichols: No, gun. We should...
Moore: [interupting] It doesn't say gun. It says "arms".
Nichols: Arms. What is "arms"?
Moore: Could be a nuclear weapon.
Nichols: It's not these - That's right. It could be a nuclear weapon!
Moore: Do you think you should have the right to have weapons-grade plutonium here in the farm field?
Nichols: We should be able to have anything...
Moore: [interupting] Should you have weapons? Should you have weapons-grade plutonium?
Nichols: I don't want it.
Moore: But, should you have the right to have it if you did want it?
Nichols: [thinking about it] That should be restricted.
Moore: Ah! Ah, so you do beleive in some restrictions?
Nichols: Well, there's wackos out there.
Where would you set the limit of what arms you – and your next-door neighbor – could legally keep at home? Please take the poll below.
(From The Paragraph.) [Sources & Notes]
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By Quinn Hungeski, TheParagraph.com, Copyright (CC BY-ND) 2012
Where would you set the limit of what arms you – and your next-door neighbor – could legally keep at home? In the poll below, pick one level of banning. Each ban includes all those prior.