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The Supreme Court Takes on Guns, Again - Heller lawyer Alan Gura revived the Second Amendment...
Reason ^ | October 1, 2009 | Brian Doherty

Posted on 10/02/2009 9:12:53 PM PDT by neverdem

Heller lawyer Alan Gura revived the Second Amendment. Can he do the same for the 14th?

It has been only a year and a season since the Supreme Court shook the world of Second Amendment jurisprudence with the historical D.C. v. Heller decision. In that case, the court declared for the first time that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to bear arms against infringement by the federal government — at least commonly used arms, for self-defense in the home.

Heller opened the gates for a flood of new lawsuits by gun-rights friendly attorneys and organizations, most prominently the National Rifle Association and the Second Amendment Foundation. One of those cases, McDonald v. Chicago, challenging a gun ban in Chicago that's similar in most respects to the D.C. gun laws overturned in Heller, has just been taken up by the Supreme Court.

The counsel who will be arguing McDonald before the court in early 2010 is the same man who won Heller, Alan Gura. Although McDonald's challenge to Chicago's laws has so far lost at both the district court level and at the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, Gura is confident he'll win.

The Chicago laws at issue are as significant a violation of a citizen's right to bear arms as were D.C.'s. Chicago residents can't have a gun without registration, can't register handguns, can't register a gun that's already in their possession, and if they miss a yearly deadline to re-register, that weapon becomes forever unregisterable. Gura and the Second Amendment Foundation (with the Illinois State Rifle Association) have pulled together a set of plaintiffs with personal tales of having their quality of life lessened by the gun ban...

(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: alangura; banglist; chicago; gura; heller; lawsuit; mcdonald; secondamendment; shallnotbeinfringed

1 posted on 10/02/2009 9:12:53 PM PDT by neverdem
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To: neverdem
Scalia laid out the reasoning.
The libs love stare decisis on abortion. Let's see how they do on the 2nd.

Or, will the wise Latina go up them stairs for some justice.

2 posted on 10/02/2009 9:29:27 PM PDT by IrishCatholic (No local Communist or Socialist Party Chapter? Join the Democrats, it's the same thing!)
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To: wardaddy; Joe Brower; Cannoneer No. 4; Criminal Number 18F; Dan from Michigan; Eaker; Jeff Head; ...
Gura, who hopes to raise the clause from the grave with his McDonald arguments, thinks possible misuse of the doctrine is no reason not to embrace it where it's appropriate. "If the Privileges or Immunities Clause guarantees certain unenumerated rights and those rights are violated, then great, have those rights vindicated! But if people file unmeritorious litigation [using Privileges or Immunities Clause arguments] that that litigation will not succeed, the courts will do their job, and that wave of misguided litigation will subside," he says. "A fear that people will try incorrect things [inspired by a revived Privileges or Immunities Clause] is not a reason to keep interpreting it the wrong way today."

Gura may be shooting for the moon in asking the Supreme Court to finally knock down Slaughterhouse after all these years. Fortunately, victory for him and the citizens of Chicago does not depend on this risky strategy. He's leaving room in his arguments for the court to decide in his favor through the means they've used to selectively incorporate the Bill of Rights since the premature death of the Privileges or Immunities Clause—the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment, which has come to mean not merely the procedures used by government but "substantive" due process as well.

In the third link you find:

At issue is a 27-year-old Chicago law banning handguns, requiring the annual taxation of firearms, and otherwise interfering with the right of law-abiding individuals to keep guns at home for self-defense.

Palin's Revenge: Who's Laughing Now?

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The Obsolescence of a Slur - Criticisms of Obama are increasingly met by cries of “Racist!” Are his critics racists?

Some noteworthy articles about politics, foreign or military affairs, IMHO, FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.

3 posted on 10/03/2009 7:05:02 PM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)
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To: neverdem
Just a thought on Chicago ~ and crime ~ and the right to self-defense (aka, the right to keep and bear arms).

If Chicago bans firearms (the modern "arms") Chicago effectively diminishes the ability of law-abiding individuals to defend themselves against marauders.

Consequently law-abiding people RELOCATE to other places where Chicago's law doesn't prevail.

Marauders, recognizing that everyone's right to self-defense has been diminished to some degree, RELOCATE to Chicago.

The data should show that Chicago's crime rate has increased.

4 posted on 10/03/2009 7:23:48 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: neverdem
requiring the annual taxation of firearms

Imagine a law requiring an annual fee for voting privileges.

Can anyone?
5 posted on 10/03/2009 8:16:07 PM PDT by Red in Blue PA (If guns cause crime, then all of mine are defective!)
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To: Red in Blue PA
Or a fee for speaking freely. Fee for newspapers to print fee for going to church....(I might have given some idiot politician some ideas’ sorry)
6 posted on 10/03/2009 8:22:32 PM PDT by goat granny
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To: Red in Blue PA; Cboldt
requiring the annual taxation of firearms

"Imagine a law requiring an annual fee for voting privileges."

"Can anyone"?

Thanks for reminding me. Don't hang all the lawyers. Keep the good ones like Alan Gura!

7 posted on 10/03/2009 8:50:59 PM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)
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To: neverdem

Thanks for the ping!


8 posted on 10/03/2009 9:52:48 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: harpseal; TexasCowboy; nunya bidness; AAABEST; Travis McGee; Squantos; Shooter 2.5; wku man; SLB; ..
Click the Gadsden flag for pro-gun resources!
9 posted on 10/04/2009 8:23:12 AM PDT by Joe Brower (Sheep have three speeds: "graze", "stampede" and "cower".)
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To: Joe Brower

Be Ever Vigilant!


10 posted on 10/04/2009 8:32:39 AM PDT by blackie (Be Well~Be Armed~Be Safe~Molon Labe!)
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To: Red in Blue PA
Imagine a law requiring an annual fee for voting privileges.

Can anyone?

I can, and you'll probably get a slight increase in taxes when you vote for the wrong party.

11 posted on 10/04/2009 9:55:40 AM PDT by wastedyears (The best aid we could ever give Africa would be thousands of rifles to throw out their own dictators)
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To: Red in Blue PA

Or having to pass a NICS check at the polling place before being given a ballot. If it comes back delayed you can’t vote for 3 days, or until it is cleared.


12 posted on 10/04/2009 11:01:41 AM PDT by Dayman (My 1919a4 is named Charlotte. When I light her up she has the voice of an angel.)
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To: neverdem

Bump!


13 posted on 10/06/2009 7:50:03 AM PDT by editor-surveyor (The beginning of the O'Bomb-a administration looks a lot like the end of the Nixon administration)
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