PA Bill Number: HR541
Title: Recognizing the month of October 2024 as "Domestic Violence Awareness Month" in Pennsylvania.
Description: A Resolution recognizing the month of October 2024 as "Domestic Violence Awareness Month" in Pennsylvania.
Last Action:
Last Action Date: Sep 27, 2024
Saipan gun controls challenged to comply with current U.S. law :: 03/25/2015
“A Navy veteran and his wife are challenging a ban on handguns in Saipan, arguing in federal court that the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands is bound by the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment,” Stars and Stripes reported Friday. “While the islands’ citizens can receive permits for a select few long guns, the law prevents them from possessing those for self-defense, even at home. Regulation of handguns varies in the four other inhabited U.S. territories. With differing degrees of regulation, they are allowed in America’s only other commonwealth territory, Puerto Rico, as well as in Guam and the Virgin Islands, but handguns are banned in American Samoa.”
In the case of Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands rules apply, per Gun Policy.org, a project of the Sydney School of Public Health, which, while decidedly anti-gun nonetheless provides instructive and useful compilations of gun laws from around the globe. The political bent is apparent by the classification of island gun laws as “permissive,” which is obviously a relative judgment.
The right to keep and bear arms is only legally recognized as “conditionally guaranteed,” meaning it’s not. Private possession of handguns is prohibited. All the government allows people to have are “.22 caliber rifles and .410 gauge shotguns.” Naturally, “background checks,” training, licensing and registration are required.
Guiding law is codified under N. Mar. I. Code, the Commonwealth Weapons Control Act. The rules are spelled out in detail, including another that seems ripe for challenge, a prohibition on anyone who is not a permanent resident from eligibility for the required identification card.
The Mariana Islands case resulted in an unexpected dismissal requiring an amended complaint, Dean Weingarten of Gunwatch reported Tuesday. The case is being handled by Michel & Associates, which has posted all filings to date. Another lawsuit is proceeding separately, Gunwatch reported in December.
“Radich’s attorneys argue that the Second Amendment must be followed because the covenant signed by the United States and the Northern Mariana Islands in 1975 that created the commonwealth provided that Amendments 1 through 9 are applicable there,” the Stars and Stripes report explained. With the Heller decision codifying an individual right to arms, and the 2010 McDonald ruling mandating applicability beyond the federal government to the states, there is no legitimate way a new ruling can be consistent without overturning current law.
Setting aside the debate over American possessions and the right of self determination, as long as said territories fall under U.S. jurisdiction, consistency also demands full recognition and equal protection of rights. The irony of freeing a people from Imperial Japanese domination only to impose citizen disarmament should not be lost on anyone who understands what "the security of a free State" truly requires and demands. And the tendency of imperial powers to treat colonial subjects as less than citizens, that is, as less than human beings, is a relic from an exploitative past that deserves to be buried.
Suggested Links
http://www.examiner.com/article/saipan-gun-controls-challenged-to-comply-with-u-s-law
