IV. 1787's definition applied to 2001 America

IV. 1787's definition applied to 2001 America

If we take a textualist approach to interpreting the Constitution, we find that all military weapons are considered "arms" for the purposes of the Second Amendment. Although recognizing the keeping and bearing of arms as a fundamental individual right can rein in judges intent on eroding our constitutional freedoms, it also causes huge problems if we let the right run wild.

In the late 1700s, individual access to military weaponry was a good thing. The citizenry could effectively employ any and all military weapons against enemies, without fear of much collateral damage. Now, though, the technology of war has far outstripped even the wildest dreams of our forebears, and our textualist exercise presents serious problems if applied in isolation.

We can wipe out cities under a nuclear mushroom cloud with the press of a button. We can unleash invisible chemicals that have no scent and no taste, yet can strike crowds of people dead in moments if the smallest amount comes in contact with unprotected skin. We possess germs and viruses that need only be dispersed in small quantities to be effective, that have no known cure, that kill eight of every ten humans infected, and that can circle the globe in hours thanks to international air travel. But worst of all, human nature has not improved since the Eighteenth Century.

We ourselves are the deadliest weapons around. Our capacity for cruelty, pettiness, selfishness, carelessness and rage has reached new heights (or is that depths?) in the last century. In the 1700s, a psychopath could still kill, but his ability to kill was restrained by relatively weak weapons. Now, our movies unsettle us with visions of nuclear missile-equipped madmen. Even the wildest scenarios seem less outlandish by the day, especially after we watched nineteen suicidal fanatics topple the World Trade Center, punch a gaping hole in the Pentagon, and kill thousands in mere moments. Even formerly obscure diseases like anthrax now pose a daily threat thanks to our efficient postal system.

If the reasoning behind Emerson becomes the law of the land, and if the textualist understanding of "arms" takes hold without any limit at all, we might find ourselves living right next to careless or homicidal people who will have suddenly found the ability to take thousands of their fellow humans with them to the grave in a very short time.

Fortunately, reasonable steps can protect us from a completely unfettered textualist application of Second Amendment rights.