Thread by @schachin

We need to talk about the bastardization of the 2A by the #GOP, the NRA, & the captured Supreme Court.

The INDIVIDUAL right to own a gun was NOT given by the Founding Fathers.

Republican Supreme Court Chief Justice Burger 1991.

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#gunlaws #Texas

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His words...

"The gun lobby’s interpretation of the Second Amendment is one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word fraud, on the American people by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime....

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#NRA @MomsDemand #MomsDemand

..The real purpose of the Second Amendment was to ensure that state armies – the militia – would be maintained for the defense of the state...

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#2A #GunReformNow #Uvalde

The very language of the Second Amendment refutes any argument that it was intended to guarantee every citizen an unfettered right to any kind of weapon he or she desires."

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#GunSafetyNow

The individual right was not given until the Scalia decision in 2008 and even HE made exceptions for anything not a hunting rifle or handgun for self-protection.

You can read it here.
supremecourt.gov/opinions/07pdf…

A good summary is here.
constitutioncenter.org/interactive-co…

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#SCOTUS

His words.
"Nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places....

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newsweek.com/antonin-scalia…

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such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms."

and these words ...
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"...like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited." It is "not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose."

Scalia 2008

So YES you can regulate & even ban certain firearms.

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The NRA and the GOP have spent years bastardizing the legal meanings of our laws.

Scalia decided the comma after "well regulated" meant that was an optional part of the clause and THAT meant every individual could have a gun.

businessinsider.com/the-comma-in-t…

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But ...
They usually ignore Constitutional Clauses 15 & 16

Militias weren't random men arming themselves for fear of the government as the NRA likes to say.

1st militias WERE well regulated & could be called up by the President to defend the country or put down Civil War

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They were there in place of a standing army because our Founding Fathers feared a strong central military, not to defend against the government.

Failure to serve the President when called could even result in legal action.

Most of the #NRA construct of the 2A is a myth.

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In fact the first militias were founded in 1636, & were the basis for Today's National Guard.

nationalguard.mil/about-the-guar…

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In fact..

"December 13, 1636, thus marks the beginning of the organized militia, & the birth of the National Guard's oldest organized units is symbolic of the founding of all the state, territory, & District of Columbia militias that collectively make up today's National Guard."

So let's start by changing the myth.
🟥We can ban AR like weapons*
🟥Ban high capacity mags
🟥 Raise the age limit

We can enact gun reform.
60%-90% of Americans support ALL THESE.

So start electing people that represent what Americans WANT!
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From 2018 & 2021 👇🏼
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BTW if you want an AR15 like weapon, no problem, but do it like other countries - lock it up at the gun range.

And no AR15s are not the same as a hunting rifle.

There is a reason the parents had to give DNA to identify their dead children.

theatlantic.com/politics/archi…

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"Compare the damage an AR-15 and a 9mm handgun can do to the human body: “One looks like a grenade went off in there,” says Peter Rhee, a trauma surgeon at the University of Arizona. “The other looks like a bad knife cut.”

🟥 READ THESE 👇🏼
wired.com/2016/06/ar-15-…

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So stop saying it.

The AR15 ...
🟥 DESTROYS organs.
🟥 Crushes bones.
🟥 Body parts are "turned to dust"

There is almost no way to save someone.

🟥 READ THESE 👇🏼
nytimes.com/2018/03/04/hea…

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"The AR-15, like the M4 and M16 rifles issued to American soldiers, shoots lightweight, high-speed bullets that can cause grievous bone and soft tissue wounds, in part by turning sideways,.."

[image of bone xray damage from an AR15]
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"..or “yawing,” when they hit a person Surgeons say they produce the same sort of horrific injuries seen on battlefields."

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“The tissue destruction is almost unimaginable. Bones are exploded, soft tissue is absolutely destroyed. The injuries to the chest or abdomen — "

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"it’s like a bomb went off.” If a bullet hits an arm or a leg, he said, the limb often hangs at an unnatural angle. Such victims can need a dozen surgeries over months. “Some eventually decide to undergo an amputation if there is severe pain in the limb and it is dysfunctional"

What the AR15 does to bodies.
What it did to these kids bodies.

No reason anyone w/o a special license should have one unless it's locked up at a gun range.

None.
“It doesn’t create a hole, it creates a cavity in the body,”

🟥 READ THESE 👇🏼
mcall.com/health/mc-hea-…

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Answer cannot be more of the same.

This is the only United States these children know & that cannot be okay for any good American.

Vote ONLY for people who will do what we the American people have been asking for -- for OVER A DECADE!

Gun Safety.
Gun Reforms.
NOW.

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#AbbottCruzMassacre 🧵👆