DC v Heller Decision
As you've likely read everywhere, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday, June 26, 2008 on DC v Heller. They held the decision of the lower court, commanding DC to give Mr. Heller a permit to possess his pistol in his house, assuming he hadn't lost his right to do so due to a felony or mental illness. Justice Scalia wrote the opinion for the 5-4 majority. Justice Stevens wrote the dissent. I skimmed the opinion, but not the dissent. The general philosophy there was good. We have an individual right to keep and bear arms (properly defined as possessing and carrying around), which predates and is protected by the Second Amendment. But, and it's a big but, the state may restrict this right with licensing and registration, and concealed carry may be restricted. Typical narrow ruling that really only forces "shall issue" for DC's licenses, but will likely eventually force all state licensing to be "shall issue". It might also make it difficult to ban open carry. Scalia also forbade the banning of whole classes of generally-used weapons, but whether this will be found to forbid so-called "assault weapons" bans remains to be seen.
Bottom line: They won't be coming door to door to collect our guns any time soon, so there shouldn't be a need for a shooting war on that account. Had the decision gone with the minority, I would be expecting the war to begin soon.
Here are a bunch of links I collected:
- Text of the decision (1.2 meg PDF) (my mirror)
- ScotusBlog has lots of coverage:
- Gauging Interest In The Guns Case, by Jason Harrow
- New case tests Second Amendment's reach, by Lyle Denniston
- Heller Discussion Board: Miller, Colt .45s and Natural Law, by Ben Winograd
- Heller Discussion Board: Substantial Victory for American Gun Owners?, by Brian Sagona
- DC v. Heller Round-Up by Brian Sagona - links to lots of stories
- You Will Give Up Your Guns, by J. Croft (my mirror) - very negative take on the ruling
- News: Supreme Court States the Bleeding Obvious, by Larken Rose - part of The Most Dangerous Superstition series
- GOA Hits The Airwaves On Heller Decision, from Gun Owners of America - "GOA is already preparing to wage constitutional challenges to a range of laws -- federal, state and local -- that violate the Second Amendment principles endorsed by the Court in yesterday's majority opinion." They're asking for donations.
- Court rules in favor of Second Amendment gun right, by Mark Sherman - AP story
- High court affirms gun rights in historic decision, by Mark Sherman - another edit of the AP story
- We Win, by GeekWithA.45 - fireworks and rejoicing
- Thoughts on the Heller Decision, by Dave Markowitz - summary of the decision
- HELLER AFFIRMED by David Codrea - lots of links and reader comments
- Bob Barr Calls Heller Decision on Gun Rights "One of Court's Most Important Rulings on behalf of Liberty" - press release from the Libertarian Party's presidential candidate
- The Pros and Cons of Heller, by Daniel L. Schmetter at JPFO
- Substantial Victory for American Gun Owners? by Daniel L. Schmutter at JPFO
- Dave Kopel has lots of links, some of which are in this list
- Constitution Is Big Winner in D.C. Gun Case, by Dave Kopel at Pajamas Media
- The Second Amendment Goes to Court, by Joyce Lee Malcolm, Randy Barnett, Alan Gura, Brian Doherty, David B. Kopel, Glenn Reynolds, Sanford Levinson and Jacob Sullum at Reason
- More on the Heller Case, by Jason Channell at Handgun Club of America
- Second Amendment Triumph: Justices Uphold Individual Right! by the Second Amendment Foundation
- SAF Files Lawsuit Challenging Chicago's Handgun Ban - The Second Amendement Foundation is attempting to overturn Chicago's ban that is similar to DC's. They filed their lawsuit 15 minutes after the Supreme Court decision was released. Mayor Daley is not amused. Good.
- Illinois State Rifle Association has lots of news links
- Winners' Test, by Glenn Harlan Reynolds at the New York Post - time to get to work cementing the victory at the state and local level
- An Escape from Fear, by Linda Chavez at The Washington Post
- The Thugs Win the Case, by Colbert I. King at The Washington Post - I've gotta link to a few antis
- Statement Of Brady President Paul Helmke On Supreme Court Second Amendment Ruling - hand-ringing from the Brady Bunch
- "Sport Shooting Ambassador Award" Winner Antonin Scalia's 2nd Amendment Ruling Does His Gun Pals Proud, by Josh Sugarmann at The Huffington Post - if you can't attack his ideas, attack the reporter
DC vs Heller
Since the decision, has the crime rate, gun crime rate, etc., gone down in D.C.? It seems to me that since it is now legal, the criminals would leave since they are cowards and don't want to be shot.
Not legal yet
Well, DC has not made handgun possession in the home legal yet. They've been instructed to do so, but I don't remember seeing a deadline in the ruling. I'm sure they'll drag their heals as long as they think they can get away with.
Fixes link:http:
Previous Posts:
Countdown to Heller: With Bated Breath...
Closed Hand - An Open Letter to the ATF's Jim Cavanaugh
Greedy speculators?
George Carlin: A Four-Letter Threat to Authority
Zero Dollar Bill
Debugging SSL Connections
My Friends...
George Carlin RIP
PricedInGold.com
Intermediate SSL Certificates
Thanks for the link
Thanks for the link, Bill!
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