June 26, 2008

Supreme Court Strikes Down DC Handgun Ban

Kinda waiting on Ragnar the Typical Bitter Gun-Clinger. I'm sure he'll be along any minute now..

Via CNN: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Washington D.C.'s sweeping ban on handguns is unconstitutional.

The justices voted 5-4 against the ban with Justice Antonin Scalia writing the opinion for the majority.

At issue in District of Columbia v. Heller was whether the city's ban violated the Second Amendment right to "keep and bear arms" by preventing individuals -- as opposed to state militias -- from having guns in their homes.

District of Columbia officials argued they had the responsibility to impose "reasonable" weapons restrictions to reduce violent crime, but several Washingtonians challenged the 32-year-old law. Some said they had been constant victims of crimes and needed guns for protection.

UPDATE (RD) :The full text of the opinion is posted at SCOTUSBLOG. I won't know how pleased to be with the opinion itself until I have a chance to really break it down. (Allahpundit has a summary here.) That said, the fact that Scalia wrote the opinion definitely gives me reason for optimism, and it's hard to not be pleased with the core holding of the opinion: the Second Amendment protects an INDIVIDUAL right. The individual rights position is the only reasonable position on the issue, but having an official ruling from the Supreme Court setting it down in black and white is very big.

Update II (howie): Right on Cue Obama throws "Common Sense Laws" under the bus. Chicago's gun control laws are were the second most restrictive in the nation. Now they are the most restrictive in the nation.

Illinois gun laws are also very restrictive. So what does Obama call a "common sense restriction? Obama supports and voted, not once but twice, to outlaw the use of a firearm in an act of self-defense or defense of another.

Common sense my arse.

Update III: More on Obama's "Common Sense" here at Powerline.

By Howie at 09:34 AM | |