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Bedbouncer t1_irizj08 wrote

Your interpretation, while once considered valid, is no longer the law of the land.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/second_amendment

I've never believed that the collective right theory was correct, based on other writings at the time and the way it was incorporated into many state constitutions at the time.

Also note that a collective right approach would allow the civilian members of a militia to own machine guns and shoulder-fired rockets without restriction, as there would be no counter-argument to arming a militia with the same weapons available to the average full-time national soldier. I don't think many gun control advocates would be pleased with the results of a true collective rights interpretation.

I feel the problem with the NY law is no so much that it violates the 2nd Amendment (because some restrictions are legal), but that it violates the 14th Amendment by applying the 2nd in an unequal manner among state residents. Imagine if NY had a "press license" and you couldn't publish without that license and to get the license you had to prove that you were a citizen of good standing, that you'd never published anything controversial in the past, and that you had a "special need" to publish information to the public, and all of those restrictions could be bypassed if you were rich and connected with the people who issued the licenses.

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