Carmen M. Cusack, Right to Food Not Arms: Beefing to Update Second Amendment Interpretation, 17 Journal of Law and Social Deviance 47 (2019).
81 Pages Posted: 4 Feb 2020
Date Written: January 15, 2019
Food supply, available through the government or nonprofit organizations, is believed by many people throughout the world to be an innate right guaranteed to all, including non-human life. In order to address the need for food and reestablish certainty of survival once guaranteed by the Second Amendment, which is now being used to promote unnecessary ownership of deadly weapons, this Article presents Constitutional jurisprudence and builds a new analysis. Section II of this Article revisits the framers’ original concerns about violent systemic failure. Rather than dismiss that history, it takes Justice Antonin Scalia’s tack by delving into the Second Amendment’s grammar. Then, it argues against interpretations extending the Second Amendment to include an individual right publicly to carry an arm or privately possess a gun. To fortify values undergirding the Second Amendment and modernize its effectiveness, Section II argues in favor of a collective right and an individual right to food. This section discusses stare decisis to persuade the United States Supreme Court to renegotiate its position in District of Columbia v. Heller. Section III discusses the innate right to food, including care of pets and working animals. It argues the need for plant-based, vegan, and healthy food and fresh drinking water for all creatures as well as appropriate living conditions for plants. Section IV discusses philosophy, economics, and politics regarding cultivation of healthy plants, climate change, accords with humans in other countries and animals, supplemental assistance and pet food, and armed conflict. Section IV discusses ethical treatment of animals by grocery stores, owners, and the government. It explains why hunting is not only unprotected by the United States Constitution, it is an indication of mental illness and unconducive to proliferation of rights and stability. It offers suggestions to the government about how to generate charitable donations and save money to provide food for needy individuals. Section V concludes.
Keywords: Second Amendment, right to food, plant-based, Billy Graham, Andrew Johnson, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), framer's intent, aspirational, Heller v. District of Columbia, handgun, tyrnanny, militia, arsenal, environmentalism, Thirteenth Amendment, jury duty, water, sustainability
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Cusack, Carmen M., Right to Food Not Arms: Beefing to Update Second Amendment Interpretation (January 15, 2019). Carmen M. Cusack, Right to Food Not Arms: Beefing to Update Second Amendment Interpretation, 17 Journal of Law and Social Deviance 47 (2019)., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3517899
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