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My column two weeks ago took Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to task for misinterpreting the Second Amendment right to bear arms. In retrospect, I realize I owe her an apology. From the bottom of my heart, I apologize to Secretary Rice - for being too light on her. ... Since then, a reader directed me to a fascinating 100-page article in the University of California-Davis Law Review [Winter 1997] by Carl T. Bogus tided, "The Hidden History of the Second Amendment" ... Bogus, an associate professor at Roger Williams University Law School, wrote: "The Second Amendment was not enacted to provide a check on government tyranny; rather, it was written to assure the Southern states to Congress would not undermine the slave system by using its newly acquired constitutional authority over the militia to disarm the state militia and thereby destroy the South's principal instrument of slave control." ... Bogus said it was clear that the Second Amendment was drafted to protect Southern militias, not broadly allow individuals to arm themselves. ... He concluded, "It cannot be overemphasized that slavery was the central feature of life in slave holding states, and that the South depended on arms and the militia itself against the constant danger of a slave revolt....Southerners had to be infinitely more concerned about slave control than abstract, ideological, or contingent beliefs about liberty and guns."
For a copy of the complete article, contact CJRG. |