Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns From: [r--s] at [cbnewsc.cb.att.com] (Morris the Cat) Subject: Feinstein/Ginsberg transcript Date: Wed, 28 Jul 1993 14:43:21 GMT > From : LEROY PYLE Number : 1133 of 1174 > To : ALL Date : 07/27/93 9:06a > Subject : Ginsberg/Feinstein text Reference : NONE > Read : [N/A] (REPLIES) Private : NO > Conf : 001 - PAUL REVERE NETWORK SEN. FEINSTEIN: Let me begin with the Second Amendment. I first became concerned about what does the Second Amendment mean with respect to guns in 1962 when President Kennedy was assassinated, and then with Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. And then I watched the evolution of serial murders in this country and then the growth of assault weapons and their prevalence on our streets. We said we shared the same age, and on my birthday a gunman walked into a swimming pool and shot at six youngsters. And then I went home on our break, and I went to one of San Francisco's premier office buildings, and someone had just walked in and wounded six, killed eight and shot himself. And then I picked up a newspaper where a three-year-old had pulled a loaded assault weapon from under a bed and fired three bullets into his sister. And so I went back to the Second Amendment, and I read it again, and it said, "A well-regulated Militia" -- capital M-- "being necessary to the security of a free State" -- capital S -- "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms"-- capital A -- "shall not be infringed." And then I understand that in 1939, a decision called US versus Miller, the Supreme Court held that the obvious purpose of the Second Amendment is to protect the viability of the organized state militia. Since Miller, the lower federal courts unanimously have held that the Second Amendment protects the people's right to keep and bear arms only in connection with service in the organized militia, today's National Guard. Now, as a mayor, I tried to do something about it through the law, found that the state had preempted the area of licensing, registration, and when we tried possession, the Supreme Court of the State of California said the state also controls the area of possession. This very committee -- Senator Deconcini, Senator Metzenbaum -- has legislation that aims to deal with assault weapons. And the chairman of this committee has very shortly -- has consented to allow there to be a hearing, for which I am very grateful because several victims would like to testify. And so I am somewhat puzzled. And let me ask this question: If the federal courts, as I believe they have, have unanimously held that the Second Amendment protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms only in connection with service in the organized militia, today's National Guard, do you agree with this consensus judicial interpretation of the Second Amendment? JUDGE GINSBURG: Senator Feinstein, I can say on the Second Amendment only what I said earlier, the one thing that the court has held, that it is not incorporated in the Bill of Rights, it does not apply to the states. What it means is a controversial question. The last time the Supreme Court spoke to this question is 1939. You summarized what that was and you also summarized the state of law in the lower courts. But this is a question that may well be before the court again, and all I can do is to acknowledge what I understand to be the current case law, that this is not incorporated in -- this is not one of the provisions binding on the states. The last time the Supreme Court spoke to it is in 1939, and because of where I sit, it would be inappropriate for me to say anything more than that. I would have to consider, as I've said many times today, the specific case, the briefs and the arguments that would be made, and it would be injudicious for me to say anything more than that with respect to the Second Amendment. SEN. FEINSTEIN: Thank you.