The Constitutional Right To Bear Arms Has Outlived Its Usefulness - Live Debate 1630 2013/11/14

[asmo]

Legal heavyweights argue. The lineup looks great and it should be a fun debate.

Recent mass shooting tragedies have renewed the national debate over the 2nd Amendment. Gun ownership and homicide rates are higher in the U.S. than in any other developed nation, but gun violence has decreased over the last two decades even as gun ownership may be increasing. Over 200 years have passed since James Madison introduced the Bill of Rights, the country has changed, and so have it guns. Is the right to bear arms now at odds with the common good, or is it as necessary today as it was in 1789?

http://fora.tv/event/the_constitutio...ess/livestream


For the motion:
Alan Dershowitz - Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Sanford Levinson -Professor of Law and of Government, University of Texas




Against the Motion:
David Kopel - Research Director, Independence Institute & Associate Policy Analyst, Cato Institute
Eugene Volokh - Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law

[Rabid]

Thank you for the heads up.

ETA: You can vote on it here http://intelligencesquaredus.org/deb...efulness&tab=2

[asmo]

This is turning out to be a GREAT debate.

Every single one of us should be watching this and trying to fundamentally understand these arguments.

[StagLefty]

Ya David Kopel !!!!

[Rabid]

Alan Dersh so far just seems to be using a straw man argument.

[asmo]

I agree with Desh on the concept there should be a right for self defense - and that should be over-arching.

They need to get into the concept of the right of revolution - and how that plays with the 2nd amendment -- which will indefinitely lead to the 'well everyone should be able to have nuclear weapons'.

and as always - Eugene Volokh is a monster. He talks fast but he is awesome.

[Rabid]

I agree with Desh on the concept there should be a right for self defense - and that should be over-arching.

They need to get into the concept of the right of revolution - and how that plays with the 2nd amendment -- which will indefinitely lead to the 'well everyone should be able to have nuclear weapons'.

and as always - Eugene Volokh is a monster. He talks fast but he is awesome.

Self defense is covered in the Constitution under natural rights.

Agreed Volokh is great.

[Bailey Guns]

Dershowitz seems incapable of a true, rational argument. His entire premise is based on typical leftist emotions. Kopel is slicing and dicing all of his arguments pretty easily.

[Bailey Guns]

I'm curious to see how a NYC audience votes on this.

[Bailey Guns]

Dershowitz sounds nothing like the successful scholar and professor that he is.