Posts by Ana Simkiss
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Hard News: Cultures and violence, in reply to Sacha,
The US doesn't have to repeal the Second Amendment, just enforce it - "a properly regulated militia".
unfortunately the Supreme Court's view (5 vs 4 anyway) is that that part of the provision does not modify the right of the individual to bear arms for historically lawful purposes. I.e. Heller means that the 2nd amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia.
I've not read the whole decision but the majority opinion sure smells like Scalia.
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Hard News: Cultures and violence, in reply to BenWilson,
Ben, I disagree that Australia and the USA can be seen as equivalent in this area. They are just not the same and gun culture is not only an aspect of the Ameerical self, but in the constitution which might as well be the Bible so reified is it. Yes legislation can work, but it will work differently in different environments.
In terms of drafting, the law that bans assault weapons, assuming one was passed (whether it be state or federal) needs to be crafted so as to avoid being struck down by the Supreme Court, as well as meet the test for good and effective lawmaking. I do not know if the two are likely to be in harmony or not, I suspect not given the Supreme Court's present makeup. It seems more likely the law will be weaker rather than stronger to accommodate this risk, but it cannot be traded off the make the law "more effective".
You are right the constitution could be amended, but count the number of states won by republicans in the last preseidential election. That is prima facie roughly how many states wiare unlikely to ratify the amendment, and I don't know how that number ever gets to zero. I can't even imagine two thirds of Congress getting it together to propose an amendment. Possibly pessimistically, I think it is politically impossible for the 2nd amendment to be repealed.
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Hard News: Cultures and violence, in reply to BenWilson,
I recall the change post Port Douglas. However I don't think that gun ownership was as widespread in Australia. Nor were there quite the same strong cultural associations between guns and some fringe-y groups that very well might use those arms to defend their constitutional right to bear arms.
Anyway, premature. You'd have to get this sort of measure past Congress, Senate and the Supreme Court. It might even take a constitutional amendment.
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Hard News: Cultures and violence,
The thing that has been twisting my noodle is this. How would you ever get those weapons out of circulation if the US Goverment decided to go ahead and legislate for that?
Imagine, against the odds, that the US decides to limit or eliminate assault weapons. How, when many of those weapons are in the hands of militarist/millenist/survivalist/libertarian tea party wingers/2nd amendment nuts (etc), is the government going to take those weapons away? I foresee Waco x many if that happens.
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Hard News: Crossing the line into idle bigotry,
Speaking of lazy op eds, anyone have the fortitude to read all of Bob Jones' epistle in the herald ? The headline "it's retarded and gay not to see funny side of life." hear that everyone? If you don't think Bob is funny you're retarded and gay. Or something.
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Hard News: Crossing the line into idle bigotry,
slightly o/t but for a really toxic media environment you can't beat the Daily Mail. Here is a very thorough explanation of why
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Speaker: Dreams Do Come True, in reply to izogi,
I strongly suspect that the reification of the constitution is a reason why wholesale electoral reform seems to be off the table.
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Tracey you were super in the TV3 election coverage - very well done. But as to your central thesis, as long as people are voting for racist reasons, the election and the electorate are not colour blind.
It cannot be doubted that there were some votes cast against Obama because of pure old fashioned racism. I don't know if those remnants will ever be gotten rid of. Happily, the ones that are not prejudiced on race appear to now have a small majority and gaining. That is definitely something to celebrate.
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There's still time to change the road you're on, though
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Speaker: The Democracy-Free Zone,
Do we all get the threat to local self determination posed by the recent Nat reform of the legislation? As in, local government has no role in social issues?