Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny

Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny

By James Smith

25 Dec 12

“‎Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.”

- John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address: Delivered to the University of St. Andrews, Feb. 1st 1867

The events in Newton, CT has led to a cacophony of cries begging for the elimination of firearms within the United States. Gun control, they believe, will stop mass murders and make their streets safer. Sadly, on the exact same day, a deranged man in China killed 22 children with a knife. That is two more than Adam Lanza killed with a firearm. Over 2000 children a day are killed in the United States by abortion. And there is no outcry by the media to stop that.

But do those that demand “safe streets” have any hope in removing firearms from the hands of the average citizen. Never mind the number of laws, written on paper, that Lanza broke on that fateful day.

Actually, they don’t. You see there is something called the Constitution and the Bill of Rights that protects gun ownership. In the case of Heller vs. DC, an opinion authored by Justice Antonin Scalia, “the Court held that the right to own a gun is not connected with service in a militia; rather, it is a personal right to own a firearm for “traditionally lawful purposes” such as self-defense within the home.”

Let us substitute one legal object with another, and see how that fared almost 80 years ago.

Alcohol.

It was a legal substance that could be bought and sold according to the free market principles. It was taxed and generated revenue for local and state governments.

And then came the 18^th Amendment, sometimes known as the Volstead Act, after decades of work by the Temperance groups. It stated that:

Section 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.

Section 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

The ramifications of passing such a Constitutional Amendment was devastating. Wikipedia states it the best:

Following the 18th Amendment’s adoption, prohibition effectively resulted in a public demand for illegal alcohol, making criminals of producers and consumers. The criminal justice system was swamped although police forces and courts had expanded in recent years. Prisons were jam-packed and court dockets were behind in trying to deal with the rapid surge in crimes. Organized crime expanded to deal with the lucrative business, and there was widespread corruption among those charged with enforcing unpopular laws.^[9]

Court cases challenged the enforcement of the 18th Amendment as violations of rights guaranteed under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments.

The 21^st Amendment was passed a few years later, restoring the right to manufacture, posses, and sell alcohol.

This highlights two things:

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