No Guns For Rednecks

From kretinkooper In all countries that derive their laws from English common law, with the exception of the United States, parliaments have developed statutory law to restrict the right to have arms for self defense. In the United States many rights, including the right to keep and bear arms, are codified in the U.S. Constitution that by design is extremely difficult to modify. An historic duty of some to keep and bear arms in England predates the invention of firearms, arising during the reign of Henry II, who promulgated the Assize of Arms in 1181, which required knights and freemen to keep arms and to bear them in service of the king. The English Bill of Rights 1689 set out an individual right of Protestant Englishmen to have arms suitable for their own defense, regardless of their social and economic station, though this was done mostly to restrict the right of Catholics. This was because of the fear the Protestants had in England of being disarmed that led to the Glorious Revolution and subsequently their guaranteed right to self-defense. The article in the bill covering the right of protestant subjects to bear arms is now considered to be obsolete, having been superseded by subsequent legislation, which is common practice in English constitutional law. In the United States, the right to keep and bear arms is often presented in the context of military service and the broader right of self defense. Whether this right pertains to individuals acting independently or individuals acting collectively was once a matter of debate, and the basis for any right at all hotly contested. However, on June 26, 2008, the Supreme Court of the United States held that Americans have an individual right to keep and bear arms for self-defense in the case District of Columbia v. Heller. [Click here to see the video on youtube.com]