WE WON, I think
June 26th, 2008 by Syd
Answering a 127-year old constitutional question, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to have a gun, at least in one’s home. The Court, splitting 5-4, struck down a District of Columbia ban on handgun possession.
Justice Antonin Scalia’s opinion for the majority stressed that the Court was not casting doubt on long-standing bans on gun possession by felons or the mentally retarded, or laws barring guns from schools or government buildings, or laws putting conditions on gun sales.
In District of Columbia v. Heller (07-290), the Court nullified two provisions of the city of Washington’s strict 1976 gun control law: a flat ban on possessing a gun in one’s home, and a requirement that any gun — except one kept at a business — must be unloaded and disassembled or have a trigger lock in place. The Court said it was not passing on a part of the law requiring that guns be licensed. Source: SCOTUS Blog
Click here for the full opinion in PDF format
In the whole long struggle for gun rights, this may be the most significant day in our lifetimes. It won’t overturn every gun law in the country, but it provides a powerful affirmation that the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right guaranteed to all American citizens. That right is not a “collective” right of the states, and it exists irrespective of participation in a “well regulated militia.”
For the first time in the history of our Republic, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms was and is an individual right as intended by our Founding Fathers,” — John McCain
There is some “weasel language” in the decision:
But Scalia made clear that the Second Amendment right to bear arms is “not unlimited.'’
“It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose,'’ he said.
Scalia said the court’s opinion should not cast doubt on longstanding concealed weapons prohibitions or bans on possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in schools or government buildings. Source
Read more:
Supreme Court says Americans have right to guns
Constitution Is Big Winner in D.C. Gun Case - Dave Kopel
Commentary: So, what’s next on guns?
Heller quotes from the majority - opinion is linked in the next post
Court: A constitutional right to a gun
Possible impact of Heller on Chicago handgun ban
Obama Camp Disavows Last Year’s ‘Inartful’ Statement on D.C. Gun Law
Obama Takes Middle Road on Gun Ban Ruling
Most important part:
“We are aware of the problem of handgun violence in this
country, and we take seriously the concerns raised by the
many amici who believe that prohibition of handgun
ownership is a solution. The Constitution leaves the
District of Columbia a variety of tools for combating that
problem, including some measures regulating handguns,
see supra, at 54–55, and n. 26. But the enshrinement of
constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy
choices off the table. These include the absolute prohibition
of handguns held and used for self-defense in the
home. Undoubtedly some think that the Second Amendment
is outmoded in a society where our standing army is
the pride of our Nation, where well-trained police forces
provide personal security, and where gun violence is a
serious problem. That is perhaps debatable,
but what is not debatable is that it is not the role of this Court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct.
We affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals.
It is so ordered.”