Schumer: Idea That Second Amendment Can’t Be Limited Is ‘Dumb’

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Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Sunday condemned the idea that there can be no limitations on the right to bear arms, saying that Americans have accepted limitations on the First Amendment and should on the Second Amendment as well.

"I think those of us in the pro-gun safety movement should accept the Heller decision and say there's a constitutional right to bear arms and it's no less important than the right to free speech, the right against search and seizure," Schumer said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Schumer went on to stress the idea that there are still constitutional limitations on the right to own guns:

"Just like on the First Amendment, we say you can't scream fire in a crowded theater falsely. We have anti-pornography laws. We have anti-libel laws. There are reasonable limitations. And some in the pro-gun movement, and the NRA in many instances, doesn't believe in any limitation at all. That is not unconstitutional, that just is dumb."

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/schumer-dumb-not-to-limit-second-amendment


Schumer Rips Ted Cruz’s Pro-Gun Propaganda: ‘That Just Is Dumb’
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/01/20/1474481/schumer-rips-ted-cruzs-pro-gun-propaganda-that-just-is-dumb/

Discussing his opposition to President Obama’s gun safety plan, Cruz suggested that increasing gun access among poor women in urban neighborhoods could reduce violent crime, argued that an assault weapon ban would be unconstitutional and accused the administration of exploiting the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut to advance a “partisan agenda.” Schumer, a long-time gun safety advocate fired back. He pointed out that the Supreme Court decision in DC v. Heller established an individual right to bear arms
but gave the government wide latitude to regulate guns:

SCHUMER: Heller also said that there should be reasonable limitations, that they’re allowed reasonable limitations. I don’t think that lady needs an assault weapon. I don’t think she needs a 100-round clip. I don’t think, for instance, that those things would help her in any way. So so to say she has a right to bear arms: yes. To say, just like on the first amendment — we say you can’t scream “fire” in a crowd falsely, we have anti-pornography laws, anti-libel laws. There are reasonable limitations. And the NRA, in many instances, doesn’t believe in any limitation at all. That’s not unconstitutional. That just is dumb.

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[Pete Cortez]

1. That's not the debate.

Everyone agrees that rights have limits. The question is what limits, when, applied to who, why and under what test or level scrutiny.