Massachusetts: Permanent Resident Aliens Are 2d Amendment "People"

[Fred Fuller]

http://volokh.com/2012/03/30/distri...law-limit-on-permanent-residents-owning-guns/
District Judge Strikes Down State-Law Limit on Permanent Resident Aliens’ Owning Guns
Eugene Volokh • March 30, 2012 11:52 am
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http://volokh.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/fletcher.pdf
- PDF of the decision

A brief summary of the 41-page decision:

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
March 30, 2012

This case presents the question whether lawful permanent
resident aliens are among “the people” for whom the Second
Amendment the United States Constitution provides a right to bear
arms. I conclude they are.

/s/ Douglas P. Woodlock
DOUGLAS P. WOODLOCK
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

 

[NavyLCDR]

Good! It's been held many times before that legal resident aliens have the same protections under the Bill of Rights as citizens. The Bill of Rights grants rights to no one. The Bill of Rights simply declares those preexisting rights which the government is not supposed to infringe upon. Our Declaration of Independence says that all men have certain unalienable rights - due to being free men, not citizenship.

Most of us didn't do a dang thing to be worthy of American citizenship anyway....we were just lucky enough to be born here.

 

[Loosedhorse]

At least one of my students will be happy to hear this!

Funny how it didn't make the Boston Globe, huh?

 

[bikemutt]

You know, it's strange, when I was a Permanent Resident I knew I had these unalienable rights but I never felt like the shoe fit, almost like I didn't deserve them, but felt lucky to have them. One day it occurred to me how great this country is to share Freedom with every person who lawfully lives here, it's a uniquely unselfish proposition.


I suspect citizenship is on the minds of most PRs, playing hide-and-seek with elements of their fundamental freedoms seems un-American to me, I'm glad to see this Judge agrees.

 

[Grmlin]

Wow, a Judge with common sense in Ma. Still not moveing back.

 

[Neverwinter]

You know, it's strange, when I was a Permanent Resident I knew I had these unalienable rights but I never felt like the shoe fit, almost like I didn't deserve them, but felt lucky to have them. One day it occurred to me how great this country is to share Freedom with every person who lawfully lives here, it's a uniquely unselfish proposition.


I suspect citizenship is on the minds of most PRs, playing hide-and-seek with elements of their fundamental freedoms seems un-American to me, I'm glad to see this Judge agrees.

In so far as the Bill of Rights enumerates the rights of people and not just citizens, it is only consistent that legal resident aliens can avail themselves of the right.

 

[docnyt]

That is great news. Hopefully other states with similar restrictions will follow suit

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Well, Article 1 Section 26 of the Tennessee State Constitution uses "citizens of this state" in the RKBA; on the other hand, Tennessee recognizes right to carry by anyone who holds a valid handgun permit from their home state. So it is not exclusive to citizens, even if the language specifically protects citizens' right to keep and bear arms.

A guarantee that an enumerated right shall not be infringed is not automatically a negation of other non-enumerated rights. Even if one were to accept a strict militia reading of the 2A as a protection of the right of the people to keep and bear arms for militia purposes, that is not automatically a negation of keeping and bearing arms for other puposes. You really cannot twist the militia clause from an example into an exclusion.

The state has ruled guarantee that a citizen of Tennessee has the RKBA for self-defense or militia duty does not negate the right of non-citizens to self defense, nor does it negate the right of anyone to own and use guns for traditional, lawful purposes. State court rulings and attorney general opinions state that lawful gun ownership and use is not limited to self-defense or militia service; just because the right of the citizens to keep and bear arms for defense of themselves is guaranteed, does not deny the right to own and use guns for hunting, protecting livestock from predators, or simple possession as curios, ornaments or keepsakes, or any other traditional, lawful use of arms.

Even a guarantee of a citizen's right is not a negation of a right of the people.