时间:2018-12-30 作者:英语课 分类:法律英语 Legal Lad


英语课

by Michael W. Flynn

 

First, a disclaimer: Although I am an attorney, the legal information in this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for seeking personalized legal advice from an attorney licensed 1 to practice in your jurisdiction 2. Further, I do not intend to create an attorney-client relationship with any listener.


Today is part 2 of the 2008 Supreme 3 Court roundup, and I will discuss a Second Amendment 4 case in which the Court struck down Washington, D.C.’s handgun ban.


The Second Amendment to the Constitution states very simply:


A well regulated Militia 5, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed 6.


The Second Amendment has rarely been discussed in Supreme Court opinions. In fact, the last opinion to deal with this Amendment was in 1939 when the Court addressed the constitutionality of a law prohibiting sawed-off shotguns.


The text of the Amendment took center stage when Dick Heller, an armed security guard, sued the District after it rejected his application to keep a handgun at his Capitol Hill home a short distance from the Supreme Court building. The 1976 D.C. handgun law prohibited most citizens from having handguns in their homes, and required that all firearms be equipped with trigger locks, or be kept disassembled.


In a 5-4 decision penned by Justice Scalia, the court struck down the handgun ban, the trigger lock requirement, and the disassembly requirement, but generally upheld D.C.’s licensing 7 requirements.


The basic question before the Court was whether the Second Amendment granted an individual right to bear arms, or a collective right to bear arms when connected with a militia. Proponents 8 of the D.C. law argued that the prefatory, or introductory clause of the Amendment showed that the right was necessarily tied to service in a militia. The prefatory clause states that “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,” and so the proponents of the law argued that any right to have a gun was related to service in a militia, not with self-defense in the home. Opponents of the law argued that self-defense was contemplated 9, and that the Second Amendment was also passed in part to allow local governments the ability to defend themselves against the Federal government.


In the end, the Court sided with the opponents of the law, striking it down.


But what does this case mean to the average American? First, there is an unsettled issue of whether this case will apply to state laws prohibiting handguns. The case only dealt with a law in D.C., which is not a state. The Court has held that many provisions of the Bill of Rights, such as the Fourth Amendment’s reasonable search and seizure 10 requirements, apply to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. However, the Court has not held that all Federal Constitutional provisions apply to the states automatically, and so the question of whether this case applies to the states is still an open one.


Also, this case will not likely affect laws pertaining 11 to hunting or the guns used for hunting. The opinion focused in large part on the self-defense needs of people living in densely-populated urban areas, not hunting.


Last, this case will not likely affect state and local governments’ abilities to regulate handguns by denying the right to possess them to felons 12 or the mentally ill, or to limit handguns in buildings such as schools and courthouses. Justice Scalia expressly noted 13 so in his majority opinion, and the case seems only to have addressed a wholesale 14 ban on handguns.


However, one thing is for sure: this case will (and already has) sparked a number of lawsuits 15 around the country in which current or prospective 16 gun owners are challenging gun regulation.


Thank you for listening to Legal Lad’s Quick and Dirty Tips for a More Lawful 17 Life. You can send questions and comments to.........or call them in to the voicemail line at 206-202-4LAW. Please note that doing so will not create an attorney-client relationship and will be used for the purposes of this podcast only.


 



adj.得到许可的v.许可,颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)
  • The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
  • Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗?
n.司法权,审判权,管辖权,控制权
  • It doesn't lie within my jurisdiction to set you free.我无权将你释放。
  • Changzhou is under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu Province.常州隶属江苏省。
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的
  • It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
  • He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
n.改正,修正,改善,修正案
  • The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
  • The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。
n.民兵,民兵组织
  • First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面,其次是民兵。
  • There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。
v.违反(规章等)( infringe的过去式和过去分词 );侵犯(某人的权利);侵害(某人的自由、权益等)
  • Wherever the troops went, they never infringed on the people's interests. 大军过处,秋毫无犯。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • He was arrested on a charge of having infringed the Election Law. 他因被指控触犯选举法而被拘捕。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
v.批准,许可,颁发执照( license的现在分词 )
  • A large part of state regulation consists of occupational licensing. 大部分州的管理涉及行业的特许批准。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
  • That licensing procedures for projects would move faster. 这样的工程批准程序一定会加快。 来自辞典例句
n.(某事业、理论等的)支持者,拥护者( proponent的名词复数 )
  • Reviewing courts were among the most active proponents of hybrid rulemaking procedures. 复审法院是最积极的混合型规则制定程序的建议者。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
  • Proponents of such opinions were arrested as 'traitors. ' 提倡这种主张的人马上作为“卖国贼”逮捕起来。 来自辞典例句
n.没收;占有;抵押
  • The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
  • The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。
与…有关系的,附属…的,为…固有的(to)
  • Living conditions are vastly different from those pertaining in their country of origin. 生活条件与他们祖国大不相同。
  • The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school. 视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
n.重罪犯( felon的名词复数 );瘭疽;甲沟炎;指头脓炎
  • Aren't those the seats they use for transporting convicted felons? 这些坐位不是他们用来押运重犯的吗? 来自电影对白
  • House Republicans talk of making felons out of the undocumented and those who help them. 众议院共和党议员正商议对未登记的非法移民以及包庇他们的人课以重罪。 来自互联网
adj.著名的,知名的
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
n.批发;adv.以批发方式;vt.批发,成批出售
  • The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物,以零售价卖出。
  • Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。
n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )
  • Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权,耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
  • I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多,赢的也多,输的也多。 来自辞典例句
adj.预期的,未来的,前瞻性的
  • The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
  • They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。
adj.法律许可的,守法的,合法的
  • It is not lawful to park in front of a hydrant.在消火栓前停车是不合法的。
  • We don't recognised him to be the lawful heir.我们不承认他为合法继承人。
学英语单词
absolute fatal wound
act of terrorism
advance copy
air-cooled turbine blade
aligned dimension
arctic mouse-ears
as pale as ashes
ato unit
bank holiday
bar silver
barbier
beam of uniform section
beam splitting dichroic mirror
boiler cupboard
boiling point elevation
C'esaro convergent series
Caldeirão, Sa.do
christianly
click-to-dial
configuration partition function
consistent deformation
continuous overhead sprinkling
copper clad steel
cross reference list
customs tael
decennary forbids
declaration for warehouse
dedecorated
densely ionization radiation
dequass
digital audio inputs
disclosure principle
dreadnaught,dreadnought
earnings surprise
error-deformation string
Evoron
exauguration
farming bacteriology
fidei-commissum
Freyburg
fruit-seed
gamma-butyrolacton
gauge fixing
glass table
gravity assist
grease proof wrapping
hencoops
hepatic rickets
hexylester
hot alignment
hub ratio
imporose
indeterminate fauit
Indiegogo
inter row cultivator
isobits
job confirmation
level holding pipe
Lord High Steward (of England)
multidiversified
napocor
nardoo
news summary
nuclear emulsion
optic papillae
overdimension container
overtighten
ovular
paramyxoviral
pee-eye
Pharmacometric
pigheadednesses
post-axiad
Power Five
quartz still
ratiometer
red bay
reelin
regenerative braking
reteeing
robern
safe in life and limb
see's
side house
simulated environment test
SlimBrowser
Softran
solar proton
SPDL
spheric earth
tamisier
tetons
thiaestrane
three-star
tubicoles
uncontrolled rise
unwilling to spend money
Uzunisa
vertical vane copying milling machine
Weiss' reflex myopic reflex
xylotrechus formosanus
Yongding