Letters to the Editor
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‘Cuomo Stands Alone’
Attorney General Cuomo’s position on the Second Amendment is consistent with what I often hear repeated in sometimes polite dinner conversation in New York City — that the right to keep and bear arms refers to only the right of militias to keep and bear arms [New York, “Cuomo Stands Alone,” January 14, 2008].
After tiring of having people scoff at my suggestion that the Second Amendment may have something to do with protecting individuals against tyranny, I decided to do my homework and find out where the truth lies.
The earliest important commentary on the Second Amendment was contained in a legal treatise written by a prominent jurist named St. George Tucker.
Tucker’s treatise, View of the Constitution of the United States, was published in 1803 and frequently has been cited by the Supreme Court.
Tucker notes in his treatise that the ownership of weapons in England was restricted to those who were permitted to hunt.
The only people permitted to hunt were members of the aristocracy — think Robin Hood and his illegal slaying of the King’s deer.
Tucker notes that the aristocracy, under the guise of regulating hunting, thus kept the citizens disarmed. In writing about the Second Amendment, Tucker makes no mention of militias. He views the right to bear arms as a protection of individual rights.
Tucker wrote, “The right of self defense is the first law of nature. … Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any colour or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not all ready annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.” Note also that the Second Amendment is part of the Bill of Rights. I suspect that those who claim it is limited to militias do not believe similar limitations exist on the rights to freedom of speech, the press, religion, and assembly.
PHILIP PATTERSON
New York, N.Y.
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