The Hawaii Supreme Court handed down a unanimous opinion on Wednesday declaring that its state constitution grants individuals absolutely no right to keep and bear arms outside the context of military service. Its decision rejected the U.S. Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Second Amendment, refusing to interpolate SCOTUS’ shoddy historical analysis into Hawaii law. Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern discussed the ruling on this week’s Slate Plus segment of Amicus; their conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Well not quite. Well regulated did also include training and they did not consider the average person to be well trained enough to qualify for the phrase.

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      It’s both. Without weapons with which to train, a well-regulated militia made up of ordinary civilians isn’t possible.

      It’s saying, with a weird comma out of place, that civilians can be armed so that a militia is possible.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Fun fact, you don’t need guns on you 24/7 for training. You don’t even need to store them at home.

    • xenspidey@lemmy.zip
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      9 months ago

      False, George Mason quote “I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few public officials.” George Mason wrote a draft of what became the second amendment

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Yeah that’s one of the pitfalls of the historical argument. There was more than one writer, and founding father. They absolutely did not agree on how widespread guns should be. However the term “Well Regulated Militia” was in common use to describe militias with extensive training to fight in the line and not just skirmish or be an extra force on the side. Alexander Hamilton states you cannot be a “Well Regulated Militia” training once or twice a year.

        So it seems a bit disingenuous to now say it’s everyone and there’s no training or anything they would consider Regulation involved.