Second Amendment Militias Searching for Modern Day Redcoats along the Shifting Rhetorical Battle Lines of a Gun Controlled Utopia
![handle is hein.journals/wsulr21 and id is 421 raw text is: WESTERN STATE UNIVERSITY
LAW REVIEW
VOLUME 21 SPRING 1994 NUMBER 2
Second Amendment Militias Searching
for Modern Day Redcoats Along the
Shifting Rhetorical Battle Lines
of a Gun Controlled Utopia
Byron L. Beck*
INTRODUCTION
In 1993, debate over the meaning of the Second Amendment of
the Bill of Rights, and its implications for society, was rekindled on
the heels of Congressional passage of the Brady Bill,' President
Clinton's pledge2 to encourage support of stricter gun control legisla-
* B.A., 1983, B.Y.U.; J.D., cum laude, 1986, B.Y.U. L. Sch.; Member of the California Bar
and Adjunct Faculty Member of the University of Phoenix.
1. Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, Pub. L. No. 103-159, § 101-106, 107 Stat.
1536, 1537-1546 (1993)[hereinafter Brady Bill]; see generally 18 U.S.C. §§ 921-930 (West 1994).
The Brady Bill establishes an interim procedure to monitor the sale or other transfer of hand-
guns between gun merchants and private citizens. The bill further establishes a mandatory 5 day
waiting period and identity verification process that is intended to prevent the sale of handguns
to convicted felons, fugitives, drug addicts, the mentally ill, illegal aliens, dishonorable military
discharges, or persons who have renounced United States Citizenship. The Brady Bill also con-
tains a sunset provision that coincides roughly with the planned implementation date for a na-
tional instant criminal background check system.
2. State of the Union Address-Message of the President, 140 CONG. REC. S43-02 (daily
ed. Jan. 25, 1994). In his first annual state of the Union address, President Clinton made the
following statement relative to gun control:
Third, we must build on the Brady bill, and take further steps to keep guns out of
the hands of criminals. When it comes to guns, let me be clear: Hunters must always
be free to hunt, and law abiding adults should be free to own guns and protect their
homes. I respect that part of American culture. I grew up in it.
But I want to ask sportsmen and others who lawfully own guns to join us in a
common campaign to reduce gun violence. You didn't create this problem, but we
need your help to solve it. There is no sporting purpose on earth that should stop us
from banishing the assault weapons that outgun our police and cut down our children.
So, I urge you to pass an assault weapons ban.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/wsulr21&div=25&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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