DC gun ban overturned!
Hooray for the Supreme Court!
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Americans can keep guns at home for self-defense, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday in the justices' first-ever pronouncement on the meaning of gun rights under the Second Amendment.
The court's 5-4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia's ban on handguns. The decision went further than even the Bush administration wanted, but probably leaves most federal firearms restrictions intact.
To make it even better, the court majority went so far as to directly affirm a write to own handguns! My, my. they must be having little hissy-fits over at Handgun Control, Inc..
THIS is the type of thing that makes judicial appointments important folks. Imagine the mischief the libs would start in our court system if Kennedy had got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning and voted with the liberals instead. We would have had a 5-4, first time ever precedent on the Second Amendment that basically strikes it from the Constitution.
Scalia wrote the decision, and it caries his trademark common sense.
The basic issue for the justices was whether the amendment protects an individual's right to own guns no matter what, or whether that right is somehow tied to service in a state militia.
Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said that an individual right to
bear arms is supported by "the historical narrative" both before and after the Second Amendment was adopted.
The Constitution does not permit "the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home," Scalia said. The court also struck down Washington's requirement that firearms be equipped with trigger locks or kept disassembled, but left intact the licensing of guns.
Scalia noted that the handgun is Americans' preferred weapon of self-defense in part because "it can be pointed at a burglar with one hand while the other hand dials the police."
But liberals, take heart. The good Mayor of DC plans to implement a system of handgun registraton.
District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty responded with a plan to require residents of the nation's capital to register their handguns. "More handguns in the District of Columbia will only lead to more handgun violence," Fenty said.
"More handgun violence"?? Does this guy actually live in DC? Is he insane enough to think that this decision means more criminals will have handguns?? Incredible.
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No doubt
No doubt about that...which just underlines my point about the importance of judicial appointments...and, by extension, the Presidential election.
Scary Decision
The decision is not as good news as it first appears. Although the Second Amendment is so clearly spelled out that even liberal law professors such as Lawrence Tribe concede that it is an individual right to own firearms, the Supreme Court narrowly decided by a 5-4 decision that it is so. This should have been a unanimous decision. Just goes to show how far left SCOTUS is.
Steve McCullough
http://www.stevemc2.com
The rationale some of the present justices use is unbelievable!
Like in Wednesday's decision in the Louisiana case of the rape of young child and the death penalty sentence; it was noted as part of the reasoning in the written majority opinion that Americans are 'trending away' from their majority support for the death penalty, as part of the justification for the ruling! Since when are SCOTUS Justices supposed to utilize the idea of opinion polling as part of their decisionmaking process? There are factors within this present court that drive me insane!
Was it last year or the was it the previous session where one of these four cited a court decision out of EUROPE as a form of precendent in one of their ruling's majority opinions!
What part of interpreting the law (read, Constitution) do these four not understand?
Opinion Polling
You make a good point. If the Supreme Court is going to base its decisions on the opinions of the people then why was Louisiana law overturned? The majority of Louisianans voted for it!
Steve McCullough
http://www.stevemc2.com