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http://www.potowmack/warin.html

Second Amendment in Court, Index
Emerson, Hale, Wright, Nelson, City of Renton, Eckert, Rabbitt, Pencak, Miller, Oakes

United States v. Francis J. Warin

(The Warin case is not mentioned by Halbrook in his discussion of court cases in That Every Man Be Armed. Gun lobby literature contains frequent statements that the Supreme Court has to take up the Second Amendment eventually and settle the issue of gun rights. The only way the Supreme Court would review this case is if a US Court of Appeals in another circuit made a contrary ruling. To overturn these rulings the Supreme Court would not only have to overturn all precedent but also violate reason itself. The Second Amendment Foundation's amicus curiae brief in this case contains the statement: "What Amicus asserts is a basic right of free men to take arms to defeat an oppressive government." It is not within the powers of the judiciary to dissolve the government of the United States and institute anarchy. The NRA does not go to court on Second Amendment grounds. The inevitable repudiation by the courts would end the discussion and the fantasy.

Update Sept98:
The repudiation is no longer certain with Reagan/Bush libertarian fantasts on the court. For more on the federal judiciary see Clarence Thomas concurring opinion in Printz. A careful reading of the expressions of Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas does not support the kind of personal right the gun lobby/libertarians want against any and all government including state government. Scalia and Thomas, consistent with rightwing/libertarian ideology, object to the extention of central/federal authority into areas of state regulation. They don't seem to have a problem with the powers of the states to regulation. The issue then becomes what is the role of the Federal Government. The Potowmack Instutitute make a recommendation for A National Firearms Policy

Update April99:
The federal district court in US v. Emerson, March 30, 1999, embraced the gun lobby/libertarian pseudoscholarship to fabricate a "personal right" to be armed outside of any state or militia purpose. This case in under appeal to the US Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit. The docket can be followed at the Fifth Circuit website. The case no. is 99-10331.

Update September 1999:
The Potowmack Institute has filed an amicus curiae brief in US v. Emerson which is a distillation of the arguments found in the Potowmack Institute files.
A National Firearms Policy
The Rule of Law
What does the NRA want?
Charlton Heston Speaks
What is at stake in Emerson is the relationship between citizen and state. It is as fundamental as the Constitution itself.

The Second Amendment Foundation's amicus in Warin is provided at the .../398safbr.html.)

530 F.2d 103 (1976)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff-Appellee

Francis J. Warin,
Defendant-Appellant

Second Amendment Foundation,
Amicus Curiae.

No. 75-1734

United States Court of Appeals,
Sixth Circuit

Argued Dec. 16, 1975. Decided Feb. 4, 1976.

Certiorari Denied June 21, 1976.See 96 S. Ct. 3168.
["Certiorari Denied" means the Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal.]

US v. Francis J. Warin

[PotowmackForum], interactive posting

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[HOMEPAGE].
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