Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

ColdJay64 t1_j5vsrb8 wrote

Reply to comment by ONE_GUY_ONE_JAR in Philadelphia juvenile street gang linked to thefts of nearly 100 firearms from Pennsylvania gun stores by TreeMac12

It would be for sure, but maybe the 2nd amendment needs some updating too. As we are all aware it was written 250 years ago - with muskets in mind.

9

ONE_GUY_ONE_JAR t1_j5vudpf wrote

Well then it would fail the undue burden standard. You can't just make it impossible for someone to exercise their rights and claim those rights still exist.

Anyway, it's fine if you think the 2nd Amendment needs to be updated, but it seems odd you'd say "current gun laws" as if this is a new thing or could be changed with ordinary state legislation. There is really nothing you can do beyond amending the constitution.

8

ColdJay64 t1_j5vvyor wrote

I am obviously not an expert but that’s debatable, it’s been ruled in multiple courts that the 2nd amendment does not extend protection to firearm sellers: https://harvardlawreview.org/2014/04/does-the-second-amendment-protect-firearms-commerce/

Hence why I referred to current gun laws, as my understanding was that changing state legislation could potentially have an impact here.

5

ONE_GUY_ONE_JAR t1_j5vyk2n wrote

This is true. But it doesn't extend to the point that gun sales could be prohibited. Gun dealers can be subject to more regulation because they aren't protected by the Second Amendment. But if they were so regulated that the were de facto prohibited, then that would be unconstitutional: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undue_burden_standard

I don't think this has ever been tested, but I also don't think any state has ever tried to regulate gun stores so aggressively that they couldn't exist. If a state did I think it would be a virtual certainty that the Court (especially this Court) would strike it down as an undue burden on people exercising their 2nd Amendment rights.

It's also worth nothing that this article is discussing a split amongst different circuit courts regarding this issue (when different Federal Courts come to different conclusions about an issue). Thus, this issue is still up in the air and hasn't been settled by SCOTUS yet.

10