Toby Ziegler on gun control
Congressman Shallick: But this White House uses the first amendment to protect flag burning, to protect pornography, to ban school prayer. Why, when the second amendment clearly says that the federal government will not infringe upon a citizen’s…
Toby Ziegler: Because it doesn’t.
Shallick: …right to keep and bear arms…
Toby: It doesn’t say that.
Shallick: Toby!
Toby: In fact, it doesn’t say that at all. The only way it says that at all is if you remove some words from it.
Shallick: Oh, look. Will you…
Toby: It says “a well-regulated militia, being necessary for the security of the free state…the government shall not infringe.” The words regulated and militia are in the first sentence. I don’t think the Framers were thinking of three guys in a Dodge Durango.
Shallick: Well, you don’t really know what the Framers were thinking, do you?
Toby: No. But I do know that if you combine the populations of Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, and Australia, you’ve got a population roughly the size of the United States. We had 32,000 gun deaths last year and they had 112. Do you think it’s because Americans are more homicidal by nature? Or do you think it’s because those guys have gun control laws?
The West Wing | 2x13 | Bartlet’s Third State of the Union
