Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns
From: [r--s] at [cbnewsc.cb.att.com] (Morris the Cat)
Subject: Feinstein/Ginsberg transcript
Date: Wed, 28 Jul 1993 14:43:21 GMT

> From    : LEROY PYLE                   Number    : 1133 of 1174
> To      : ALL                          Date      : 07/27/93 9:06a
> Subject : Ginsberg/Feinstein text      Reference : NONE
> Read    : [N/A] (REPLIES)              Private   : NO
> Conf    : 001 - PAUL REVERE NETWORK

      SEN. FEINSTEIN:  Let me begin with the Second Amendment.
I first became concerned about what does the Second Amendment
mean with respect to guns in 1962 when President Kennedy was
assassinated, and then with Martin Luther King and Bobby
Kennedy. And then I watched the evolution of serial murders in
this country and then the growth of assault weapons and their
prevalence on our streets.
     We said we shared the same age, and on my birthday a
gunman walked into a swimming pool and shot at six youngsters.
And then I went home on our break, and I went to one of San
Francisco's premier office buildings, and someone had just
walked in and wounded six, killed eight and shot himself. And
then I picked up a newspaper where a three-year-old had pulled
a loaded assault weapon from under a bed and fired three
bullets into his sister.
     And so I went back to the Second Amendment, and I read it
again, and it said, "A well-regulated Militia" -- capital M--
"being necessary to the security of a free State" -- capital
S -- "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms"-- capital
A -- "shall not be infringed." And then I understand that in
1939, a decision called US versus Miller, the Supreme Court
held that the obvious purpose of the Second Amendment is to
protect the viability of the organized state militia. Since
Miller, the lower federal courts unanimously have held that
the Second Amendment protects the people's right to keep and
bear arms only in connection with service in the organized
militia, today's National Guard.
     Now, as a mayor, I tried to do something about it through
the law, found that the state had preempted the area of
licensing, registration, and when we tried possession, the
Supreme Court of the State of California said the state also
controls the area of possession. This very committee --
Senator Deconcini, Senator Metzenbaum -- has legislation that
aims to deal with assault weapons. And the chairman of this
committee has very shortly -- has consented to allow there to
be a hearing, for which I am very grateful because several
victims would like to testify.
     And so I am somewhat puzzled. And let me ask this
question:  If the federal courts, as I believe they have, have
unanimously held that the Second Amendment protects the right
of the people to keep and bear arms only in connection with
service in the organized militia, today's National Guard, do
you agree with this consensus judicial interpretation of the
Second Amendment?

     JUDGE GINSBURG:  Senator Feinstein, I can say on the
Second Amendment only what I said earlier, the one thing that
the court has held, that it is not incorporated in the Bill of
Rights, it does not apply to the states. What it means is a
controversial question. The last time the Supreme Court spoke
to this question is 1939. You summarized what that was and you
also summarized the state of law in the lower courts. But this
is a question that may well be before the court again, and all
I can do is to acknowledge what I understand to be the current
case law, that this is not incorporated in -- this is not one
of the provisions binding on the states. The last time the
Supreme Court spoke to it is in 1939, and because of where I
sit, it would be inappropriate for me to say anything more
than that. I would have to consider, as I've said many times
today, the specific case, the briefs and the arguments that
would be made, and it would be injudicious for me to say
anything more than that with respect to the Second Amendment.

     SEN. FEINSTEIN:  Thank you.