Jessica Pishko: Heller definitely just made up new law, although I think - militias included not just slave patrols but also killing Native people in the West. Anyways, I talk quite a lot about this in my book, as it relates to sheriffs. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/707263...

Heller definitely just made up new law, although I think - militias included not just slave patrols but also killing Native people in the West. Anyways, I talk quite a lot about this in my book, as it relates to sheriffs. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/707263...

THERE ARE NO SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS UNLESS YOU’RE IN A STATE MILITIA in a time before standing armies. Thomas made that up!! In 2008. In Heller. With Scalia. Say it with me: “The Scalia Second Amendment is Bullshit.”

The Highest Law in the Land by Jessica Pishko: 9780593471319 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Bookswww.penguinrandomhouse.com Shortlisted for Columbia Journalism School’s J. Anthony Lukas Prize A Publishers Lunch NonFiction Buzz Book A leading authority on sheriffs investigates the impunity with which they...

IMHO the argument that "militias" in the 2A refers to "state militias" does not seem persuasive to me. On the other hand, I'm not wedded to a historical Constitutional interpretation (it's not like the FF cared about me), so who really cares?

I do think that the main gist here is that the 2A is based on the "promise of whiteness," as Anthea Butler says, and today elevates law enforcement as a form of white male privilege to "enforce" the laws against people they don't like.

In the course of reporting my book, I spent some time around guns and "2A" militias-type people (on the right) -- their most prevalent and poisonous attitude is that they are entitled to enforce the law against the "woke mob" and see themselves as true Americans.

Haven’t completed the opinion yet but to what extent we think Rahimi might have gone another way if his name is Miller & he played HS football in that town…is aligned w this view of 2A history & law.

I definitely think the fact that Rahimi was a 19-year-old Afghan immigrant plays some role...the facts of the case were definitely not great for him. (I felt for his public defender who was just trying to keep him out of prison.)

I do bristle at how the media talks about Rahimi as if he were not a real person, just a "bad dude."

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