~Basil

http://newswithviews.com/Vieira/edwin293.htm

MR. TRUMP’S SECOND AMENDMENT

By Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr., Ph.D., J.D.
November 25, 2016

NewsWithViews.com

Notwithstanding the rioters in the streets of major American cities who are attempting to create the chaotic conditions for a neo-Bolshevik take-over of the United States through a “purple color revolution” of the George Soros/Gene Sharp pattern, tens of millions of Americans are provisionally pleased with the election of Donald Trump to the Presidency. Only “provisionally pleased”, though, because even among his most ardent supporters no one can be certain of what he actually intends to do, or will in fact do, once he has been inaugurated.

The most important duty of any and every President is to fulfill the “Oath or Affirmation” that he “do[es] solemnly swear (or affirm) that [he] will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of [his] Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”. U.S. Const. art. II, § 1, cl. 7. To this end, he must rigorously perform his constitutional duty to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed”, the Constitution being first and foremost among those “Laws”. U.S. Const. art. II, § 3. On his official website, Mr. Trump assures us that he will champion what he describes as “Second Amendment Rights”. Unfortunately, a careful reading of this declaration demonstrates deficiencies in his understanding of those “Rights” and their proper applications.

At this early stage, Mr. Trump can be excused for his somewhat naïve views on the Second Amendment, which he has apparently drawn from simplistic talking-points put out by the National Rifle Association. In the long run, though, he will need to develop a better comprehension of the Second Amendment (as well as other provisions of the Constitution related thereto) than he has exhibited to date, if he really intends as to fulfill his Presidential duty to “take Care that [the Second Amendment] be faithfully executed”.

1. Mr. Trump states that “[t]he Second Amendment is clear. The right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed upon. Period.” It would have been preferable for him, in invoking the clarity of the Second Amendment, not to have added a word which does not appear there (“upon”). It would have been even more preferable for him to have quoted, not just the Amendment’s last fourteen words, but also the thirteen words which precede them: namely, “[a] well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State”. For those words encapsulate the true purpose of the Amendment, enabling anyone who cares to study American pre-constitutional law and history to comprehend the full meaning of the Amendment’s last fourteen words. ......