PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH Message Board

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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH

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To: Gordon A. Langston who wrote (262150)	6/8/2002 3:58:32 PM
From: Mr. Palau	Read Replies (1) of 769667

Gordon, even assuming that the Second Amendment establishes or recognizes the right of individuals to possess weapons, certainly it is not an absolute right. None of the fundamental rights in our bill of rights -- the exercise of religion, freedom of speech, right to be free from racial discrmination -- is absolute. Courts have consistently recognized that they must strike a balance between those rights and compelling government interests. If your religion includes human sacrafice, you're out of luck; the government can prohibit that practice without violating your constitutional right to the free exercise of religion. Accordingly, assuming the Second Amendment means something more than federal courts have consistently held that it means, the question is how that balance is to be struck. There are easy cases on both sides -- the right to own a shotgun for hunting and self defense vs. the right to own an atomic weapon, or other weapons intended for warfare versus self-protection. It's the harder cases where the debate should be focused.

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