232 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
232 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
THE UNABRIDGED SECOND AMENDMENT
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by J. Neil Schulman
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If you wanted to know all about the Big Bang, you'd ring up Carl Sagan,
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right ? And if you wanted to know about desert warfare, the man to call
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would be Norman Schwarzkopf, no question about it. But who would you call
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if you wanted the top expert on American usage, to tell you the meaning
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of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution ?
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That was the question I asked A.C. Brocki, editorial coordinator of the Los
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Angeles Unified School District and formerly senior editor at Houghton
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Mifflin Publishers -- who himself had been recommended to me as the
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foremost expert on English usage in the Los Angeles school system. Mr.
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Brocki told me to get in touch with Roy Copperud, a retired professor
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journalism at the University of Southern California and the author of
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"American Usage and Style: The Consensus."
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A little research lent support to Brocki's opinion of Professor Copperud's
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expertise.
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Roy Copperud was a newspaper writer on major dailies for over three decades
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before embarking on a a distinguished 17-year career teaching journalism at
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USC. Since 1952, Copperud has been writing a column dealing with the
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professional aspects of journalism for "Editor and Publisher", a weekly
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magazine focusing on the journalism field.
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He's on the usage panel of the American Heritage Dictionary, and Merriam
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Webster's Usage Dictionary frequently cites him as an expert. Copperud's
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fifth book on usage, "American Usage and Style: The Consensus," has been in
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continuous print from Van Nostrand Reinhold since 1981, and is the winner
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of the Association of American Publisher's Humanities Award.
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That sounds like an expert to me.
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After a brief telephone call to Professor Copperud in which I introduced
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myself but did not give him any indication of why I was interested, I sent
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the following letter:
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"I am writing you to ask you for your professional opinion as an expert in
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English usage, to analyze the text of the Second Amendment to the United
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States Constitution, and extract the intent from the text.
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"The text of the Second Amendment is, 'A well-regulated Militia, being
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necessary for the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep
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and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.'
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"The debate over this amendment has been whether the first part of the
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sentence, 'A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a
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free State', is a restrictive clause or a subordinate clause, with respect
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to the independent clause containing the subject of the sentence, 'the
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right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.'
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"I would request that your analysis of this sentence not take into
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consideration issues of political impact or public policy, but be restricted
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entirely to a linguistic analysis of its meaning and intent. Further,
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since your professional analysis will likely become part of litigation
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regarding the consequences of the Second Amendment, I ask that whatever
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analysis you make be a professional opinion that you would be willing to
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stand behind with your reputation, and even be willing to testify under
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oath to support, if necessary."
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My letter framed several questions about the test of the Second Amendment,
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then concluded:
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"I realize that I am asking you to take on a major responsibility and task
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with this letter. I am doing so because, as a citizen, I believe it is
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vitally important to extract the actual meaning of the Second Amendment.
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While I ask that your analysis not be affected by the political importance of
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its results, I ask that you do this because of that importance."
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After several more letters and phone calls, in which we discussed terms for
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his doing such an analysis, but in which we never discussed either of our
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opinions regarding the Second Amendment, gun control, or any other political
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subject, Professor Copperud sent me the follow analysis (into which I have
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inserted my questions for the sake of clarity):
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[Copperud:] "The words 'A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the
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security of a free state,' contrary to the interpretation cited in your
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letter of July 26, 1991, constitutes a present participle, rather than a
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clause. It is used as an adjective, modifying 'militia,' which is
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followed by the main clause of the sentence (subject 'the right', verb
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'shall'). The to keep and bear arms is asserted as an essential for
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maintaining a militia.
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"In reply to your numbered questions:
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[Schulman:] "(1) Can the sentence be interpreted to grant the right to keep
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and bear arms solely to 'a well-regulated militia'?"
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[Copperud:] "(1) The sentence does not restrict the right to keep and bear
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arms, nor does it state or imply possession of the right elsewhere or by
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others than the people; it simply makes a positive statement with respect
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to a right of the people."
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[Schulman:] "(2) Is 'the right of the people to keep and bear arms' granted
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by the words of the Second Amendment, or does the Second Amendment assume a
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preexisting right of the people to keep and bear arms, and merely state
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that such right 'shall not be infringed'?"
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[Copperud:] "(2) The right is not granted by the amendment; its existence
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is assumed. The thrust of the sentence is that the right shall be
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preserved inviolate for the sake of ensuring a militia."
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[Schulman:] "(3) Is the right of the people to keep and bear arms
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conditioned upon whether or not a well regulated militia, is, in fact
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necessary to the security of a free State, and if that condition is not
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existing, is the statement 'the right of the people to keep and bear Arms,
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shall not be infringed' null and void?"
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[Copperud:] "(3) No such condition is expressed or implied. The right to
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keep and bear arms is not said by the amendment to depend on the existence
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of a militia. No condition is stated or implied as to the relation of the
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right to keep and bear arms and to the necessity of a well-regulated
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militia as a requisite to the security of a free state. The right to keep
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and bear arms is deemed unconditional by the entire sentence."
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[Schulman:] "(4) Does the clause 'A well-regulated Militia, being necessary
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to the security of a free State,' grant a right to the government to place
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conditions on the 'right of the people to keep and bear arms,' or is such
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right deemed unconditional by the meaning of the entire sentence?"
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[Copperud:] "(4) The right is assumed to exist and to be unconditional, as
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previously stated. It is invoked here specifically for the sake of the
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militia."
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[Schulman:] "(5) Which of the following does the phrase 'well-regulated
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militia' mean: 'well-equipped', 'well-organized,' 'well-drilled,'
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'well-educated,' or 'subject to regulations of a superior authority'?"
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[Copperud:] "(5) The phrase means 'subject to regulations of a superior
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authority;' this accords with the desire of the writers for civilian
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control over the military."
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[Schulman:] "(6) (If at all possible, I would ask you to take account the
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changed meanings of words, or usage, since that sentence was written 200
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years ago, but not take into account historical interpretations of the
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intents of the authors, unless those issues can be clearly separated."
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[Copperud:] "To the best of my knowledge, there has been no change in the
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meaning of words or in usage that would affect the meaning of the
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amendment. If it were written today, it might be put: "Since a
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well-regulated militia is necessary to the security of a free state, the
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right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be abridged.'
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[Schulman:] "As a 'scientific control' on this analysis, I would also
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appreciate it if you could compare your analysis of the text of the Second
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Amendment to the following sentence,
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"A well-schooled electorate, being necessary to the security of a free
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State, the right of the people to keep and read Books, shall not be
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infringed.'
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"My questions for the usage analysis of this sentence would be,
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"(1) Is the grammatical structure and usage of this sentence and the way
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the words modify each other, identical to the Second Amendment's sentence?;
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and
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"(2) Could this sentence be interpreted to restrict 'the right of the people
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to keep and read Books' _only_ to 'a well-educated electorate' -- for
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example, registered voters with a high-school diploma?"
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[Copperud:] "(1) Your 'scientific control' sentence precisely parallels the
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amendment in grammatical structure.
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"(2) There is nothing in your sentence that either indicates or implies the
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possibility of a restricted interpretation."
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Professor Copperud had only one additional comment, which he placed in his
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cover letter: "With well-known human curiosity, I made some speculative
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efforts to decide how the material might be used, but was unable to reach
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any conclusion."
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So now we have been told by one of the top experts on American usage what
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many knew all along: the Constitution of the United States unconditionally
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protects the people's right to keep and bear arms, forbidding all
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governments formed under the Constitution from abridging that right.
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As I write this, the attempted coup against constitutional government in the
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Soviet Union has failed, apparently because the will of the people in that
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part of the world to be free from capricious tyranny is stronger than the
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old guard's desire to maintain a monopoly on dictatorial power.
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And here in the United States, elected lawmakers, judges, and appointed
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officials who are pledged to defend the Constitution of the United States
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ignore, marginalize, or prevaricate about the Second Amendment routinely.
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American citizens are put in American prisons for carrying arms, owning
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arms of forbidden sorts, or failing to satisfy bureaucratic requirements
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regarding the owning and carrying of firearms -- all of which is an
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abridgement of the unconditional right of the people to keep and bear arms,
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guaranteed by the Constitution.
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And even the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), staunch defender of the
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rest of the Bill of Rights, stands by and does nothing.
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it seems it is up to those who believe in the right to keep and bear arms to
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preserve that right. no one else will. No one else can. Will we beg our
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elected representatives not to take away our rights, and continue regarding
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them as representing us if they do? Will we continue obeying judges who
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decide that the Second Amendment doesn't mean what it says it means but
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means whatever they say it means in their Orwellian doublespeak ?
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Or will be simply keep and bear the arms of our choice, as the Constitution
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of the United States promises us we can, and pledge that we will defend
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that promise with our lives, our fortuned, and our sacred honor ?
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(C) 1991 by The New Gun Week and Second Amendment Foundation.
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Informational reproduction of the entire article is hereby authorized
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provided the author, The New Gun Week and Second Amendment Foundation are
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credited. All other rights reserved.
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About the Author
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J. Neil Schulman is the award-winning author of novels endorsed by Anthony
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Burgess and Nobel-economist Milton Friedman, and writer of the CBS "Twilight
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Zone" episode in which a time-traveling historian prevents the JFK
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assassination. He's also the founder and president of SoftServ Publishing,
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the first publishing company to distribute "paperless books" via personal
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computers and modems.
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Most recently, Schulman has founded the Committee to Enforce the Second
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Amendment (CESA), through which he intends to see the individual's right to
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keep and bear arms recognized as a constitutional protection equal to those
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afforded in the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth and Fourteenth amendments.
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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J. Neil Schulman may be reached through: The SoftServ Paperless Bookstore,
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24-hour bbs: 213-827-3160 (up to 9600 baud). Mail address: PO Box 94, Long
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Beach, CA 90801-0094. GEnie address: SOFTSERV
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