Gun Rights Under President George W. Bush

Gun Rights Under President George W. Bush After a series of new laws under the administration of President Bill Clinton instituted background checks for handgun purchases and banned assault weapons, gun rights took a significant step forward during the eight years of the George W. Bush administration that followed. Although Bush himself supported several mild gun control measures and vowed to sign a renewal of the Assault Weapons Ban if it reached his desk, his administration saw several advancements of gun rights on the federal level, especially in the courts. A Supporter of ‘Common Sense’ Gun Control In debates during both the 2000 and the 2004 presidential campaign, Bush stated his support for background checks for gun buyers and for trigger locks. Additionally, he said on multiple occasions that the minimum age for carrying a handgun should be 21, not 18. However, Bush’s support for background checks stopped at instant checks that did not require waiting periods of three or five days. And his push for trigger locks extended only to voluntary programs. During his administration as governor of Texas, Bush implemented a program that provided voluntary trigger locks through police stations and fire departments. During the 2000 campaign, he called for Congress to spend $325 million in matching funds to enable state and local governments across the country to set up similar voluntary trigger lock programs. While his advocacy was for voluntary trigger locks, Bush said at one point during the 2000 campaign that he would sign a law requiring trigger locks for all handguns. On the other hand, Bush was an opponent of state and federal lawsuits against firearms manufacturers. An 11th-hour victory of the Clinton administration was a landmark deal with firearms manufacturer Smith Wesson that would see lawsuits cease in exchange for the company including trigger locks with gun sales and implementing a smart gun technology. Early in his presidency, Bush’s stance on gun industry lawsuits led to Smith Wesson withdrawing from its promises made to the Clinton White House. In 2005, Bush signed legislation providing the gun industry federal protection against lawsuits. The Assault Weapons Ban With the Assault Weapons Ban set to expire before the next presidential term was complete, Bush stated his support for the ban during the 2000 presidential campaign but stopped short of pledging to sign an extension. As the 2004 expiration date neared, however, the Bush administration signaled its willingness to sign legislation that either extended the ban or made it permanent. â€Å"[Bush] supports reauthorization of the current law,† White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters in 2003, as the debate over the gun ban began to heat up. Bush’s position on the ban represented a break from the National Rifle Association, which had been one of his administration’s staunchest allies. But the September 2004 deadline for renewing the ban came and went without an extension making it to the president’s desk, as the Republican-led Congress declined to take up the matter. The result was criticism on Bush from both sides: the gun owners who felt betrayed and the gun ban proponents who felt he did not do enough to pressure Congress into passing the AWB extension. â€Å"There are a lot of gun owners who worked hard to put President Bush into office, and there are a lot of gun owners who feel betrayed by him,† keepandbeararms.com publisher Angel Shamaya told the New York Times. â€Å"In a secret deal, [Bush] chose his powerful friends in the gun lobby over the police officers and families he promised to protect,† said U.S. Sen. John Kerry, Bush’s opponent in the looming 2004 presidential election. Supreme Court Appointments Despite a cloudy picture on his overall stance on gun rights, the lasting legacy of the Bush administration will be his appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court. John Roberts was nominated by Bush to replace William Rehnquist in 2005. Later that same year, Bush nominated Samuel Alito to replace Sandra Day O’Connor on the high court. Three years later, the court took up arguments in District of Columbia v. Heller, a critical case revolving around the District’s 25-year handgun ban. In a landmark ruling, the court knocked down the ban as unconstitutional and ruled for the first time that the Second Amendment applies to individuals, providing a right to own guns for self-defense inside the home. Both Roberts and Alito ruled with the majority in a narrow 5-4 decision. Just 12 months after the Heller decision, another monumental gun rights case made its way before the court. In McDonald v. Chicago, the court struck down a gun ban in the city of Chicago as unconstitutional, ruling for the first time that the gun owner protections of the Second Amendment apply to states as well as to the federal government. Again, Roberts and Alito sided with the majority in a 5-4 decision.

Cantabrian War

Cantabrian War Dates: 29/28-19 B.C. Rome won the Cantabrian War, in Spain, during the rule of the first emperor, Octavian, who had recently earned the title by which we know him, Augustus. Although Augustus brought troops from Rome to the battlefront  and unintentionally brought about victory, he had retired from battle when victory was achieved. Augustus left a stepson and a nephew, the aediles Tiberius and Marcellus, to hold the victory celebration. He also left Lucius Aemilius to serve as governor when he returned home. The victory celebration was premature. So was Augustus closing of the Janus gates of peace. While I may have aroused your curiosity, this war is not one of the more popular ones for study. As the great 20th century, Oxford-based, Roman historian Ronald Syme wrote: It is in no way surprising that the Spanish War of Augustus should have commanded so little attention in modern times; and it might well be asked how far such a subject can repay study. In comparison with the wars in Germany and Illyricum, with the momentous vicissitudes of the frontier policy of Augustus, the subjugation of Northwestern Spain seems dull and tedious.The Spanish War of Augustus (26-25 B. C.)Ronald SymeThe American Journal of Philology, Vol. 55, No. 4 (1934), pp. 293-317 The 4th-5th-century Christian historian Paulus Orosius [The Seven Books of History Against the Pagans] says that in 27 B.C., when Augustus and his right-hand man Agrippa were consuls, Augustus decided it was time to subdue the border-raiding Cantabri and Astures. These tribes lived in the northern part of Spain, by the Pyrenees, in the province of Gallacia. In his 2010 Legions of Rome: The Definitive History of Every Imperial Roman Legion, Australian writer Stephen Dando-Collins says when Augustus headed from Rome to Spain, he took some of his Praetorian Guard with him, members of which he later gave land from the conquered territory. Augustus was embarrassed by his inability to clinch the battle, became ill, and retired to Taracco. The legates left in charge of the Roman legions in the area, Antistius and Firmius, won surrender through a combination of their skill and the enemys treachery the Astures betrayed their own people. Dando-Collins says the Cantabrian forces had resisted the type of battle formation Rome preferred because their strength lay in fighting from a distance so they could hurl their weapon of choice, the javelin: But these peoples would neither yield to him, because they were confident on account of their strongholds, nor would they come to close quarters, owing to their inferior numbers and the circumstance that most of them were javelin-throwers....Cassisus DioFor extended passages from Cassius Dio and others on the Cantabrian War, see Sources. Augustus Departure Leads to Over-Confidence The tribes successfully avoided being roped into other types of engagements until Augustus retired to Taracco. Then, believing Augustus had given up, they felt superior to the legates. So they allowed themselves to be drawn into the Roman-preferred, set-piece battle, with consequences disastrous to them: Accordingly Augustus found himself in very great embarrassment, and having fallen ill from over-exertion and anxiety, he retired to Tarraco and there remained in poor health. Meanwhile Gaius Antistius fought against them and accomplished a good deal, not because he was a better general than Augustus, but because the barbarians felt contempt for him and so joined battle with the Romans and were defeated.Cassisus Dio Victorious, Augustus gave two of the legions the honorary title of Augusta, becoming the 1st and 2nd Augusta, according to Dando-Collins. Augustus left Spain to return home, where he closed the Janus gates for the second time in his reign, but the fourth time in Roman history, according to Orosius. Caesar carried away this reward from his Cantabrian victory: he could now order the gates of war to be barred fast. Thus for a second time in these days, through Caesars efforts, Janus was closed; this was the fourth time that this had happened since the founding of the City.Orosius Book 6 Cantabrian Treachery and Punishment Meanwhile... the surviving Cantabrians and Asturians, according to Dando-Collins, acted as they had done repeatedly before, with trickery. They told governor Lucius Aemilius they wished to give the Romans gifts in token of their acceptance of the Romans  and asked him to send a sizable number of soldiers to transport the gifts. Foolishly (or without the advantage of hindsight), Aemilius obliged. The tribes executed the soldiers, starting a new round. Aemilius renewed the fighting, won a devastating victory, and then removed the hands of the soldiers he defeated. Even this wasnt the end of it. Again, according to Dando-Collins, Agrippa faced rebel Cantabrians slaves who had escaped and returned to their mountainous homes and those of their countrymen they could persuade to join them. Although Florus says Agrippa was in Spain at an earlier date, Syme says he didnt get there until 19 B.C. Agrippas own troops were getting on and were tired of fighting. Although Agrippa won the round of anti-Cantabrian fighting, he wasnt happy about the way the campaign had gone and so declined the honor of a triumph. To punish his less than competent troops, he demoted a legion, probably the 1st Augusta (Syme), by stripping it of its honorary title. He captured all the Cantabrians, executed the military aged men and forced all the mountain folk to live down on the plains. Rome experienced only minor difficulties afterward. It was only in 19 B.C. that Rome could finally say it had subjugated Spain (Hispania), ending the  conflict that had started about 200 years earlier during the conflict with Carthage. Roman Legions Involved (Source: Dando-Collins): 1st Legion2nd Legion (later the 2nd Augusta)4th Macedonia5th Alaudae6th Legion (later the 6th Victrix)9th Hispana10th Gemina20th Legion Governors of the Spanish Provinces (Source: Syme) Tarraconensis (Hispania Citerior) Lusitania (Hispania Ulterior) 27-24 C. Antistius Vetus24-22 L. Aemiliusor L. (Aelius) Lamia22-19 C. Furnius19-17 P. Silius Nerva26-22 P. Carisius19 ? L. Sestius Next: Ancient Sources on the Cantabrian War The sources on this war are confusing. I have followed Syme, Dando-Collins and then the sources, as much as possible, but if you have corrections to make, please let me know. Thanks in advance.