So? They're Nunchuks, it's like saying when you swing a baseball bat everybody nearby could be injured. Duh.
correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that the 2nd Amendment only applies to the federal government, and not to the states.... in which case, she ruled correctly.
2nd doesn't apply to the states if you choose to continue with the dred scott era. I thought she was above that.
so we are not bound by any case from that era?
2nd doesn't apply to the states if you choose to continue with the dred scott era. I thought she was above that.
The Second Amendment does not apply to the states if you follow binding supreme court precedent, which is what courts of appeals judges are supposed to do. Unless, of course, you support "judicial activism."
up until Heller, the 2nd had not been incorporated and following that precedent would be expected. With the Heller decision, Scalia makes specific reference to incorporation stating that since it wasn't brought up, it didn't need to be considered. This can be taken two ways.
1) that the USSC will decide it at a later case, or
2) leaving the door open for circuit/district courts to make that determination on a case, much like the Miller decision was handled through the circuits....wrongly of course, but it was done.
note that i'm not disqualifying her for following precedent, but the implication she makes that somehow nunchukas are more deadly and dangerous than handguns, therefore NY can ban possession of them.
Well, that would be true if there weren't things like Martial Arts tournaments where kids across the land compete against each other in weapons forms.No, Scalia's reference to incorporation stating that since it wasn't an issue it would not be considered can only be construed one way: whatever the Supreme Court had previously decided remains the law and is binding on the lower courts.
And no, she's not making the implication that nunchucks are more deadly and dangerous than handguns, therefore NY can ban possession of them. Instead, it seems from her statement (I've not read the opinion) that she ruled that because the Second Amendment has not been incorporated against the states, the Court's role in reviewing a challenge to the nunchuck ban is to determine if there is a rational basis for the legislature's action.
She concluded (correctly in my view) that because nunchucks are dangerous weapons with no separate beneficial purpose (unlike baseball bats which are used to play baseball) the state did have a rational basis for its action. In making this judgment she again was not being a judicial activist and instead deferred to the judgment of the legislature.
Well, that would be true if there weren't things like Martial Arts tournaments where kids across the land compete against each other in weapons forms.
The fact is that there is other uses for the nunchuks than to spin them randomly around trying to harm the nearby strangers, just like there are with baseball bats.
you're wrong....again.No, Scalia's reference to incorporation stating that since it wasn't an issue it would not be considered can only be construed one way: whatever the Supreme Court had previously decided remains the law and is binding on the lower courts.
half wrong here. she did indeed make that implication and THEN fell back on her 'precedent' statement to keep with the rational basis reasoning.And no, she's not making the implication that nunchucks are more deadly and dangerous than handguns, therefore NY can ban possession of them. Instead, it seems from her statement (I've not read the opinion) that she ruled that because the Second Amendment has not been incorporated against the states, the Court's role in reviewing a challenge to the nunchuck ban is to determine if there is a rational basis for the legislature's action.
Of course they are weapons nobody argued that they weren't, that's just another disingenuous straw man. However that is not the sole use, it was stated that there was "no other" valid use. I would argue that martial arts training is beneficial to children, to their parents, is good exercise and would warrant an exception.Assuming you are right, who cares? And aren't you really conceding the point that nunchuks are weapons?
you're wrong....again.
half wrong here. she did indeed make that implication and THEN fell back on her 'precedent' statement to keep with the rational basis reasoning.
yeah, i've read the article by those two bozos and they have no business being on the bench after writing that bullshit.I don't think so. It's not for the circuit courts to decide that the supreme court got something wrong, that's the supreme court's job. Go check out the opinion by Easterbrook and Posner (two of the more revered conservative appellate court judges) agreeing with Sotomayor if you don't believe me.
stare decisis was certainly one of her choices, not her only choice. either would not have been 'activism'.The implication doesn't really matter. What matters is that the Second Amendment has not been incorporated and that, as a result, the appropriate standard of review is rational basis. Applying rational basis reasoning, it was not her job to second-guess the legislature in banning nunchucks.
Of course they are weapons nobody argued that they weren't, that's just another disingenuous straw man. However that is not the sole use, it was stated that there was "no other" valid use. I would argue that martial arts training is beneficial to children, to their parents, is good exercise and would warrant an exception.
And the kids who compete would care, just like the kids playing baseball. There is nothing more deadly about nunchucks that is not also a property of the baseball bat. Why that weapon and not the quarter staff? The staff is a far more effective weapon with a longer reach, but then you can grab a broom and do that kind of damage, or a mop handle.
And as for why nunchucks and not the quarter staff, ask the NY legislature. They're the ones that banned it. Sotomayor's job was to determine whether there was a rational basis for the ban, not whether the legislature ought to have banned some other weapons too.
Learning to compete against others in a different use than the attempt to injure somebody with the weapon, yes. Just like learning to play baseball makes what is otherwise a far more deadly weapon "useful".So learning to use a weapons is a separate valid use from the weapon being used as a weapon? Odd.
And as for why nunchucks and not the quarter staff, ask the NY legislature. They're the ones that banned it. Sotomayor's job was to determine whether there was a rational basis for the ban, not whether the legislature ought to have banned some other weapons too.
I think it's funny how much people like you want judicial activism when it suits your political objectives yet decry it when it doesn't.