Right to Bear Arms
The 2nd Amendment to the Constitution has been up held today in a narrow decision by the Supreme Court. At issue in the particular case was the right of residents of the city of Washington, D.C. to own handguns or not. The case was brought forward by a number of the defendants, but the named defendant was Dick Heller. His action was motivated by being a security guard (apparently armed) and not being allowed to bring said arm home with him when not at work. The case was brought forward by Robert Levy, a libertarian lawyer, who obviously felt that the laws in D.C. were a restriction of individual freedom explicitly granted by the amendment.
There were a number of other defendants in the case, one a woman who had her life threatened by drug dealers when she lead a neighborhood watch program targeting drug dealers. This particular aspect largely shows how gun ownership restrictions only leaves such weapons in the hands of criminals. Sure, the laws in D.C. allowed this woman to have a rifle or shotgun for her defense, but only with trigger locks, unloaded or disassembled. Think about the drug dealer that breaks in seeking revenge and how long it was taken to unlock the trigger, load, and protect oneself.
At the core of the issue, was the interpretation of the amendment and whether it applied to the right of a state militia to bear arms or the individual people to bear arms. I think it is clear as day that it applies to both groups and that the federal government can not (nor can local governments) take those rights away in a reasonable sense. This is the first ruling in over 70 years on such an issue and it is a clear victory for the individual. It will have an impact on several other local gun bans, such as the those found in Chicago. It is worth noting that this will likely not affect things like the restrictions on machine guns, felons ownership rights, and such as that – as just like the 1st Amendment rights to free speech, there are limits (yelling fire in a crowded theatre for instance).
(Yes – for those wondering, I went from an average of 1 to 2 posts a week for the month of June, to now 4 in less than a 24 hour period!)
