BookClub Sunday, May 21, 3–5 pm
March 15–May 28, 2017, artEAST Art Center
I’m happy to announce the opening of my solo show, 2nd Amendment BookClub. In particular I am looking forward to a collaborative discussion with attorney Jay Stansell interpreting the 2nd Amendment .
BookClub, Sunday May 21, 3–5 pm, with Jay Stansell
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
The interpretation of this simple sentence has transformed through the years, creating both confusion and a division between families and friends. Join us in reading Michael Waldman’s book, The Second Amendment: A Biography. Waldman tells its story from conception to the present time.
We invite you to join us to discuss the book and the topic of individual gun rights with special guest Jay Stansell. Professor Stansell currently teaches American Crime and Punishment at Evergreen State College. He recently retired after 26 years of defending indigent clients in immigration proceedings, and criminal defendants in the federal courts.
Jay Stansell was lead counsel and argued the case on behalf of immigration detainees in Zadvydas v. Davis, where the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed non-citizens’ rights to be free of indefinite detention by the government, a decision that was cited throughout the courts’ decisions blocking our current President’s recent Executive Order on immigration.
As the constitution was being written the framers struggled with a balance between state and federal rights. Scholars traditionally read the language “a well regulated Militia” as their intention to restrict Congress from legislating away the states’ right to self-defense. This is called “the collective rights theory”.
Evolving definitions through time include a 1939 Supreme Court decision that supported gun regulation. In this case it read that if the evidence did not suggest that the shotgun in question “has some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia . . . .” that use could be limited.
Today’s common interpretation is very young, in fact from the US Supreme Court Heller case decided in 2008. This politically-led transformation supports “the individual right theory” and interprets “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms” as meaning that the United States Constitution restricts congress from prohibiting firearm possession.
Bring your questions, bring your opinions, and join us for the 2nd Amendment BookClub!