Just a question, why the hell does something need "historical basis" for it to be legal/illegal?
this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2023
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Because that's what the supreme court ruled in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen.
They just made that up, but that's where we're at now.
The Bruen test is based on three things text, history, and tradition. When evaluating a law that implicates the 2A under it you compare the law to the original intent of the amendment. This intent is found by first reading the text, analyzing historical basis (specifically the founding period till the 1860s), and looking to historical traditions.
Since the Constitution is the highest law of the land it supercedes all lower laws, making any contrary lower law unlawful.
Basically the reasoning behind this kind of test to ensure that protections aren't stripped by redefining or reinterpreting phrases.
For an example of how that might look in a different context here's a snippet of the 1A "the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Someone 50 years from now could read that an conclude (wrongly) the right to petition the government is a collective right and not something held by each individual. Under a Bruen style test courts must not use that new understanding but the original one intended by it's writers.
To be honest, we need a community for uplifting libertarian news... Maybe it's just my negativity bias, but there's just too much news about this world going to shit.