[ftp://ftp.shell.portal.com/pub/chan/letters/cbsn0731] Jeff Chan xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx July 31, 1994 REPLY REQUESTED -- DO NOT BUCK KEEP THE BILL OF RIGHTS, OPPOSE CRIME BILL ATTACKS ON SECOND AMENDMENT Dear Senator: I urge you to OPPOSE the firearm and magazine bans in the Crime Bill. These extreme proposals attack directly the core purpose of the Second Amendment which recognizes a broad individual right to ownership of militia arms. Significant historical, legal, and cultural precedents clearly show that this is a Constitutional issue. There is widely known and obvious historical support for this position. "The right of the people to keep and bear arms" in the Second Amendment refers to a militia. "I ask, sir, what is the militia?" queries George Mason during the Debates about ratification of the Constitution. He acknowledges: "It is the whole people, except for a few public officials." Alexander Hamilton in Federalist Paper No. 29 and James Madison in Federalist No. 46 echo this view of the popular militia, as does current federal statute in 10 USC 311. Thomas Jefferson wrote in a June 1776 draft of the Virginia Constitution "No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms." There is broad-based, well-researched, current scholarship demonstrating that the Second Amendment recognizes a broad, individual right. See for example History Professor Joyce Lee Malcom's just published To Keep and Bear Arms (Harvard University Press), Prof. William Van Alstyne's recent Duke Law Journal article, Stephen Halbrook's That Every Man Be Armed (LibertyTree Press, telephone 800-927-8733), and Prof. Sanford Levinson's The Embarrassing Second Amendment (Yale Law Journal, Volume 99). I urge you in the strongest possible terms to decide the constitutionality of these bans based on current historical evidence. Please read the full text of United States v Miller (307 S. Ct. 39-174) in which the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this century recognized a broad individual right to ownership of militia arms. More recent court cases also affirm private gun ownership and the Second Amendment: US v Lopez (5th Circuit Court of Appeals, September 15, 1993), US v Thompson/Center Arms Co. (S. Ct. 91-164), US v Rock Island Armory (S. Ct. 92). In the 1990 Verdugo-Urquidez decision (110 S. Ct. 90-3039), Chief Justice Rhenquist in likened "the right of the people" in the 1st, 2nd and 4th amendments. Earlier this year on May 23rd, the U.S. Supreme Court supported broad firearms ownership in Staples v US, striking down one of many frequent abuses by the BATF. Soon after, a U.S. District Court in Montana struck down as unconstitutional part of the Brady Bill. If it goes by law and precedent, the next Supreme Court cases addressing firearms issues will be decided in favor of individual Second Amendment rights. I urge you to uphold your oath of office and OPPOSE these unconstitutional proposals in the present Crime Bill. Please consider filibustering to save this Constitutional right! Sincerely, [signature] Jeff Chan