I'm talking about the Constitution. In no way does it actually allow any American to carry a gun, unless they're part of a 'civil militia'.
Your wrong mate,Texas has its own constitution. Sec. 23. RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS. Every citizen shall have the right to keep and bear arms in the lawful defense of himself or the State; but the Legislature shall have power, by law, to regulate the wearing of arms, with a view to prevent crime. http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/CN/htm/CN.1.htm
The Constitution itself gives power to the state governments which must adhere to the Constitution. I'm well aware many (mainly Republican) states are pro-gun law, but they base it on a deliberate mis-reading of the second amendment of the American constitution. Oh, and Texas isn't special... 99.9% sure all states have their own constitutions - for instance, for a brief period Washington DC outlawed the possession of hand guns (and other things)... Called the Brady Law I believe.
No mate,i used to live in Texas and the Texas constitution gives its citizens the right to bare arms for self protection and a special license to bare a hidden firearm. Texas was a country in its own right before it joined the Union of States and many of it's original constitutional rights still apply within the structure of the USA.
Without NASA we wouldn't have a lot of things we now take for granted. Like toy gliders, breast cancer screening, de-icers, outboard motors, contact lenses, long-distance telecoms (for the US-designed internet you're currently on), smoke detectors, cordless power tools and sunglasses: please log in to view this image And that's just from NASA.
I'm aware of that, believe me, what I'm saying is that the Constitution, the codified statement of law in the United States, has been misinterpreted since its very inception to allow states and citizens to make law on firearms and carry them, respectively. Texas may very well be one of the states that allows guns, but by the very Constitution, which applies to all the states, they shouldn't be able to - but politicians and organisations like the NRA ignore it and misinterpret it. Unless, what you're telling me is the Bill of Rights doesn't apply to Texas, which it does, if you look at the overturn of the Sodomy Laws.
Sodomy laws. What i'm telling you is that Texas has its own constitution in which its citizens have the right to bare arms for self protection and for the protection of the state. I've also explained that Texas is a country within a country with constitutional rights that differ from the rest of the US,Texas's own bill of rights were set out at Washington on the Brazos Texas. I really cant be arsed arguing the toss but take a look at, http://texaspolitics.laits.utexas.edu/7_4_2.html
You're telling me that Texas has a constitution (like every state) but their constitution (still) runs parallel (not subservient) to the US constitution? What I'm saying is that the 'fundamental right' Americans believe they have - they simply don't. The Constitution says so. Other aspects of freedoms in Texas have been ruled upon by the Supreme Court, so gun law could be too. After all, state courts are subservient to the SC, which can overturn their decisions, their laws and their state practices. Look at the second amendment - 'A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.' Every state voted on this, and it was ratified successfully. It applies across every state. It is perhaps one of the most wilfully mis-read statements in modern history. EDIT - just read the link you gave me... All it really means is that the US Constitution was applied and added to by Texas' state authority, much like it was in every state. The fundamentals of the US constitution itself remain and are worked around.
Read the article in the link. In contrast to the U.S. Constitution which included itsBill of Rights only as an addendum in the first ten amendments, the Texas Constitution puts the Bill of Rights at the beginning in Article I. http://texaspolitics.laits.utexas.edu/7_4_2.html
The thing about that right to bear arms is it was drawn up when there was a real danger from bears. The USA is not a frontier anymore. It was also intended to allow the people to overthrow the government in a revolution, which George Washington said they should do regularly. Commie. Having said that, I found my anti-gun beliefs challenged when Michael Moore contrasted the USA to Canada and drew the conclusion that the USA's problem is not gun availability but fear. They're just chickens who want to be loved.
I'm no expert on the U.S. constitution, but linguistically speaking, the above quote would appear to uphold the right of citizens to bear arms?
No... it most certainly doesn't. Admittedly the Constitution is vague, on purpose, to allow it longevity, it is taken extremely out of context. The Bill of Rights was always going to be included... It wasn't so much an addition as a necessary supplement to the original document. All states sign up to the USC - it doesn't really matter where in their own Constitution they place it as long as they don't infringe it. I imagine they put the Bill of Rights first in Texas because 1) they're big on limited goverment and 2) as a political gesture to the northern states at the time, who doubted the southern states' commitment to civil liberties (saying that, they all signed up to slavery).
The original didn't have a comma, like the one I quoted - but one was added during ratification. The constitution itself is a surprisingly poorly written document - the English is at times quite broken. It should probably read 'As a well regulated militia is necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed' But alas, it is very misleading - in the context of the time it is clearly in regard to a civil militia. If the civil militia was to be separate from the decision on freedom of arms, it would have been a different amendment (most likely, as the bill of rights is pretty specific and all the other amendments are quite clear, apart from the 'cruel and unusual punishments' of the 8th amendment).
