Letter to the Editor
The following was a letter submitted to the Inquirer in response to this letter.
A recent letter challenged anyone who has studied history to identify even one founder who would have agreed with Justice Scalia on guns. I’ve studied our history and here are just a few.
James Mason: “to disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them”. Thomas Jefferson: “no freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms” and “let your gun, therefore, be the constant companion of your walks”. Samuel Adams: “the constitution should never be construed to prevent the people…from keeping their own arms”. John Adams: “arms in the hands of individual citizens may be used at individual discretion…in private self defense”. That just scratches the surface. The founders, in fact, had a rather strong opinion on the subject.
It is also worth noting that the letter’s author clearly never read the Heller decision. Scalia does not assert an unlimited right. The decision explicitly states that some restrictions are constitutional.