CONVERSATION: CHIEF JUSTICE WARREN BURGER - Dec. 16, 1991
From MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour
MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Some scholars have argued that the Bill of Rights is still flawed, that some of its provisions need reconsidering, that it's over rated. How do you respond to that?
JUSTICE BURGER: That is as with anything in this life, it could be better here or there.
MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Like where, for example?
JUSTICE BURGER: Well, that's a harder one to answer. If I were writing the Bill of Rights now there wouldn't be any such thing as the Second Amendment.
MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Which says.
JUSTICE BURGER: That says a well regulated militia being necessary for the defense of the state, people's rights to bear arms. This has been the subject of one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word "fraud," on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime. Now just look at those words. There are only three lines to that amendment. A well regulated militia -- if the militia, which was going to be the state army, was going to be well regulated, why shouldn't 16 and 17 and 18 or any other age persons be regulated in the use of arms the way an automobile is regulated? It's got to be registered, that you can't just deal with it at will. Someone asked me recently if I was for or against a bill that was pending in Congress calling for five days' waiting period. And I said, yes, I'm very much against it, it should be thirty days' waiting period so they find out why this person needs a handgun or a machine gun.
MS. HUNTER-GAULT: What about the opinion polls, finally, that suggest that the Bill of Rights would not be popularly supported if it were up for ratification today?
JUSTICE BURGER: I don't believe that at all. I don't believe that at all. In fact, I think it's a little bit ridiculous. Any poll can be manipulated by how the question is asked and if you ask some active member of the NRA if the Second Amendment should be changed, of course, he or she would go up in the air.
MS. HUNTER-GAULT: That's the National Rifle Association.
JUSTICE BURGER: Yes. I don't want to get sued for slander, but I repeat that they have misled the American people and they, I regret to say, they have had far too much influence on the Congress of the United States than as a citizen I would like to see -- and I am a gun man. I have guns. I've been a hunter ever since I was a boy.
MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Like where, for example?
JUSTICE BURGER: Well, that's a harder one to answer. If I were writing the Bill of Rights now there wouldn't be any such thing as the Second Amendment.
MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Which says.
JUSTICE BURGER: That says a well regulated militia being necessary for the defense of the state, people's rights to bear arms. This has been the subject of one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word "fraud," on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime. Now just look at those words. There are only three lines to that amendment. A well regulated militia -- if the militia, which was going to be the state army, was going to be well regulated, why shouldn't 16 and 17 and 18 or any other age persons be regulated in the use of arms the way an automobile is regulated? It's got to be registered, that you can't just deal with it at will. Someone asked me recently if I was for or against a bill that was pending in Congress calling for five days' waiting period. And I said, yes, I'm very much against it, it should be thirty days' waiting period so they find out why this person needs a handgun or a machine gun.
MS. HUNTER-GAULT: What about the opinion polls, finally, that suggest that the Bill of Rights would not be popularly supported if it were up for ratification today?
JUSTICE BURGER: I don't believe that at all. I don't believe that at all. In fact, I think it's a little bit ridiculous. Any poll can be manipulated by how the question is asked and if you ask some active member of the NRA if the Second Amendment should be changed, of course, he or she would go up in the air.
MS. HUNTER-GAULT: That's the National Rifle Association.
JUSTICE BURGER: Yes. I don't want to get sued for slander, but I repeat that they have misled the American people and they, I regret to say, they have had far too much influence on the Congress of the United States than as a citizen I would like to see -- and I am a gun man. I have guns. I've been a hunter ever since I was a boy.
An interesting combination, against gun rights and gay rights.
ReplyDelete"Burger was opposed to gay rights as he wrote a famous concurring opinion in the Court's 1986 decision upholding a Georgia law criminalizing sodomy (Bowers v. Hardwick), in which Burger purported to marshal historical evidence that laws criminalizing homosexuality were of ancient vintage. Chief Justice Burger pointed out that the famous legal author William Blackstone wrote that sodomy was a "'crime against nature'... of 'deeper malignity than rape', a heinous act 'the very mention of which is a disgrace to human nature' and 'a crime not fit to be named'"."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_E._Burger
What the hell does the gay issue have to do with the gun issue? Another diversionary tactic by gun loons.
DeleteYep, and obviously homophobic. His choice of issues to make a point is revealing.
Delete"Another diversionary tactic by gun loons."
DeleteI disagree Anon. Several people who favor further restrictions on gun rights have suggested that Jefferson's ownership of slaves is germane to his credibility and at least one Anon, maybe more, have suggested that Ted Nugent's elected position on the NRA board of directors calls into question that group's credibility as advocates for individual rights.
So it seems quite appropriate to use the same standard on those who would advocate for gun control
What BS. I only question why you don't denounce the racist words of Nugent. He can say whatever he wants, it's you who exposes your lack of character by not speaking out against his racism; and it's the NRA that can be called racist for keeping a racist as a paid spokesperson for their group. Anon 4:40am is correct. Why pick the gay issue to make your point? Of course Jefferson's slave ownership comes in to question, but in the face of that he wrote an inclusive document of law, he did not write an exclusive document of law. Burger still defended sodomy laws in regards to gays, did he include heterosexual sodomy, not according to his words. If he had said sodomy was illegal for all, at least he would have been consistent.
Delete"Why pick the gay issue to make your point?"
DeleteWhy pick the race issue in regards to Nugent? Because its there in regards to their respective spokesmen for each side. Both call into question each person's credibility.
Again, if you want to challenge Jefferson's credibility for his lack of support for freedom of slaves, then its just as valid to bring up Burgers opposition to equal rights for gays.
Are you playing stupid, or just stupid.
DeleteNugent spews racist slurs, that's why he can be used as an example of a racist.
Are you saying Burger practiced homosexuality? Jefferson practiced slavery.
"Are you saying Burger practiced homosexuality?"
DeleteCheck back on my comments above and you'll see what I said.
Yes, that's what you said.
DeleteAnd here we have another on of those black-robed idiots.
ReplyDeleteorlin sellers