Now appealed to SCOTUS. I wonder if the Supremes will second that emotion?
Posted on 05/08/2007 3:48:02 PM PDT by Jean S
To: POLITICAL EDITORS
Contact: Susan Semeleer of the CATO Institute, +1-202-789-5212; ssemeleer@cato.org
WASHINGTON, May 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, in a 6-4 vote, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied a motion by the D.C. government to reconsider the court's blockbuster opinion in Parker v. District of Columbia. On March 9, the court held in Parker that "the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms," striking down a 31-year old ban on guns in the nation's capital. Moreover, the court continued, activities protected by the Amendment "are not limited to militia service, nor is an individual's enjoyment of the right contingent upon his or her continued or intermittent enrollment in the militia."
That means the D.C. handgun ban is unconstitutional and, unless the Supreme Court overturns the Parker decision, the ban will have to be lifted. Most likely, the D.C. government will now ask the Supreme Court to review the appellate court decision. If so, the high court could decide this summer whether to take the case.
"If the Supreme Court grants review, the citizens of this country will finally have a foursquare pronouncement from the nation's highest court about the real meaning of the Second Amendment," said Cato Institute senior fellow Robert Levy, who acted as plaintiff's co-counsel. "That's good news. For those of us who have long argued that the Second Amendment secures an individual's right to own a firearm for personal protection, the D.C. Circuit has confirmed that the Constitution is on our side."
The full text of the original complaint, Parker v. District of Columbia, is available at http://www.cato.org/pubs/legalbriefs/gunsuit.pdf.
The Cato Institute is a nonpartisan public policy research foundation dedicated to broadening policy debate consistent with the traditional American principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets and peace.
Contact: Susan Semeleer, senior manager of media relations, 202-789-5212; ssemeleer@cato.org
SOURCE CATO Institute
This ban was in effect for 31 years?? No wonder our nation’s capital has been virtually crime-free all that time. After all, we know how successful such laws are at deterring the bad guys, right? /s
Seriously, my theory is that the reason there has been virtually no outcry from the good guys in D.C. is that there are almost none to speak of :-(
Nice!
If SCOTUS grants certiorari, it's only good news if there are five votes to uphold the DC Circuit's decision. Otherwise, it could be a debacle.
And it took that decades to dawn on them that the Second Amendment was.
If they refuse to hear it, the Appeals Court ruling stands.
They don’t have to even act on it.
Can you imagine the NYSlimes crossing their fingers and hoping that freedom of speech will be upheld? Or Al Sharpton praying that they will keep letting black votes count as a whole human instead of a fraction?
It is an outrage that gun owners have to hope that they get their 2nd Amendment rights and feel happy to even get a piece of them...and then fear that the 9th Circuit will overturn it.
But, all in all, a very happy day.
” It is an outrage that gun owners have to hope that they get their 2nd Amendment rights and feel happy to even get a piece of them...and then fear that the 9th Circuit will overturn it.”
9th circuit has no standing to hear the case. :)
Yes, I can.
Justice Kennedy keeps a whole drawer full of Sandra Day O’Conners undies.
Like her, it just depends on which ones he wears that day, as to how he will rule.
ping!
Score one for the law abiding citizen and Freedom.
They don’t have to even act on it."
And let's hope they don't hear it. Unfortunately, I worry that the gun grabbers who want to impose foreign laws on us, will be only too happy to pass judgment on it like they've done to the 1st Amendment and private property rights.
The Supreme Court will definitely want to hear this case. The four Liberals (Ginsburg, Breyer, Stevens, Souter) will want to reverse this decision. The four Conservatives (Roberts, Alito, Thomas, Scalia) will want to apply this decision to the entire nation. That leaves Justice Kennedy. Maybe he’ll rule that gun restrictions can’t impose an “undue burden” on the right to keep and bear arms (it’s worked for abortion ;))
I see a day with guns at the Walter Reed Freep.
Then it is time to ignore the courts. We are not slaves.
I called a lib friend today to tell him of the ruling. His response?
A very sarcastic “Well, I think we ought to hand out guns to kindergarteners”.
The REAL irony here? Yep, I know for a fact he owns a couple of handguns. Apparently only libs are smart enough to have the right to protect their families.
I sent him an email asking him when he got rid of his guns.
Thank you for the ping! This is good news...I hope they restore the rights of individuals to own and carry!
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I was using hyperbole. My point is that no matter what court (even SCOTUS) finds...some liberal will try an end run by bringing a new action (test case) before a "friendly" court in an attempt to effectively overturn the previous finding. It is never ending.
Sieg Heil with a Smile! Liberal SMACKDOWN!
A very probable theory...
Otherwise we could be facing outright confiscation.
“Otherwise we could be facing outright confiscation.”
Then we start defending our rights with the ammo box. It’s that simple.
We need the USSC to hear this case and we need it done asap. The longer we languish under the unrelenting assault on RKBA, the harder it’s going to be to stop it. Let’s look at something real quick... go to opensecrets.org and look at the money the anti’s have vs. the pro gun groups. Look at the numbers of donors. With that in mind, tell me how they can get so much accomplished while we have to be satisfied with just the status quo?
Either way it goes, the USSC needs to address this case NOW. If they find correctly as the appeals court did, we are all good. We forget the politicians and we assault the gun grabbers in court everywhere. If the USSC says we don’t have RKBA, the war starts. We know where we stand and we know then what their intentions are. It sickens me to think that the situation may come to that but I’ll be damned if I leave this earth with my daughter unable to defend herself. It’s our duty to keep America free for the next generation... anything less is unacceptable.
Mike
Well, about 10% of the population, perhaps.
Yes!
I see a day when I can actually visit the Nation’s Capital again!
Things are Looking Up! ([: ^ )
RamS
Doesn’t it go something like this:
Soap Box -> Ballot Box -> Jury Box -> Cartridge Box?
If the USSC refuses to hear it or if the 5 communists in black rule that ‘the people’ in the Bill of Rights are in fact not individual citizens but some collective nonsense, then there is only 1 box left.
And then you have these wackos
.
Effort to ban lead bullets in California to protect condors.
.
If you cant ban guns get the ammo banned for “Toxic” reasons.
.
These guys NEVER give up and neither should we.
“Otherwise we could be facing outright confiscation.”
“Then we start defending our rights with the ammo box. It’s that simple.”
Bull, Katrina proved that those saying such things today when not faced with confiscation will promptly give up their rights when confronted. Not a single person fought the goons in New Orleans.
At most. I like your tagline - I’m with you there!
The bad part hasn't started yet. Wait until traffic cops start treating every ticket as an armed confrontation. Wait until some soccer moms get shot dead in front of a car full of kids, because some goof with a badge thinks that his life is worth more than some "civilian."
Meanwhile, the smart guys who don't think a badge is a license to piracy will be bailing out, and more political police chiefs will keep getting lickspittle followers.
Remember that there are hundreds of men and women who go out every weekend and shoot 20 rounds into a dinnerplate sized circle, at 600 meters. There are thousands who carry a .40 or larger on a hip as habit. There are millions who have a Springfield .30-06 or an M-1 or 12 ga pump behind the door.
The LEOs are outnumbered. and they know it. And, I have yet to see a LEO who can hit a bull in the a$$ with a bass fiddle. They go for the 'spray and pray' tactic.
I just hope that the dead don't get piled up too high...
From RKBA thread to anti-police rant in only 36 posts. How nice.
1: It states that the “right to keep and bear arms” is an individual one, not a collective one, requiring membership in some “militia.” We have been saddled with that damn prefatory clause regarding the militia for centuries. It gave opponents a roust to attack to the entire amendment.
2: The COA for the DOC is often called “The Little Supreme Court.” Among the Courts of Appeal, it is “first among equals.” Its decisions are given great weight by the other courts.
For some great background and ammunition for arguing against the gun grabbers, read the decision at http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/docs/common/opinions/200703/04-7041a.pdf
I would have loved better than 6 -4 decision, but we'll take what we can get.
I think it's because they don't want to draw attention to themselves, given that they keep an illegal handgun in the bedstand drawer.
I have no problem with the police, I am just noting the obvious, when the cops showed up to grab guns in New Orleans, NO ONE resisted...
All the rhetoric about ‘from my cold dead hands’ is exactly that, talk.
The average citizen still thinks the police are on their side. Every day, however, the local LEO is working to change that opinion...
Exactly right.
The problem with Katrina style confiscations is that it happened, and was finished before many of us even knew it was going on.
20 cops to a house on a suprise visit with 1 person inside with a gun. I tell you what, I would fork over my guns as well (course I have others not on my property). Live today to fight tomorrow and all that jazz.
If it ended up being a announced occurance and people knew in advance that an area was being cordoned off for confiscation then eventually people would band together to fight it instead of being by themselves in their houses.
Katrina confiscations and blanket national confiscations would be a completely different situation. The second shot heard around the world would be a lot louder then the first was, and have much further reaching effects.
Now appealed to SCOTUS. I wonder if the Supremes will second that emotion?
So you think that the population of New Orleans is representative of the gun owners in the USA? Well, I beg to differ. In the situation of a national confiscation the people I know (they tend to be Southerners) would not meekly surrender their weapons. Maybe where you live...
You make a valid point... but Katrina was a different scenario. However, remember that Katrina was a natural disaster vs. this scenario being an oppressive push by .gov.
Mike
“9th circuit has no standing to hear the case.”
ginsburg,breyer,stevens are definitely going to rule agaunst individual rights,i don’t know about souter,and can only hope kennedy makes the right call-it will be real interesting to see the schumer/feinstein/boxer/clinton axis try to disarm the nation if the decision goes the wrong way-think the civil war was bad??
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