Second Amendment Showdown

The Wall Street Journal ^ | March 14, 2007 | TED CRUZ

[TigersEye]

bang

[T.L.Sink]

Compared to the 50 states, DC ranks number ONE in the Murder and Negligent Homicide rate (2005 statistics). Maybe now they'll realize the truth in John Lott's study. More guns owned by law-abiding citizens actually reduces violent crime.

[Dick Bachert]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j73SsNFgBO4

[TigersEye]

I actually heard some clown on TV say the gun ban in DC reduced "gun related crimes." Come to think of it I think that clown was the mayor of DC but I'm not positive.

[JoeSixPack1]

So finally the legal a**holes got it right, but my question ...

Why now?

For the past 6 years State after State is losening their grip on the 2nd and our citizenery is arming themselves.

Are the elites getting nervous about something?

[gondramB]

>>I actually heard some clown on TV say the gun ban in DC reduced "gun related crimes." Come to think of it I think that clown was the mayor of DC but I'm not positive.<<

Is he out of jail again? Or maybe this is a new guy.

[MinorityRepublican]

Marion Barry?

[MinorityRepublican]

I think other than the war on terror, President Bush is extremely effective on protecting our 2nd amendments.

Even the Democratic Congress do not dare to pass new "Gun Control" laws (yet).

[fortheDeclaration]

On some of the sport shows (around the horn, PI), I have happily noted that the sports writers (mostly liberal) have stated that the 2nd Amendment is a individual Constitutional right to bear arms.

[Old_Grouch]

I think other than the war on terror, President Bush is extremely effective on protecting our 2nd amendments.

It's true that concealed carry laws have been expanding in the states, there is a wonderful dynamic map on Wikipedia that shows the trend. But what is the extremely effective action that President Bush had to do with all that?

[PUGACHEV]

"But what is the extremely effective action that President Bush had to do with all that?"

I'm not sure whether it was extremely effective or not, but Ashcroft's letter to the state's attorney generals affirming that the 2nd Amendment is an individual right was cited in the Appeals Court decision, and the Justice Department filed a brief in support of the appellants. President Bush deserves credit for that.

[marktwain]

"So finally the legal a**holes got it right, but my question ...

Why now?

For the past 6 years State after State is losening their grip on the 2nd and our citizenery is arming themselves.

Are the elites getting nervous about something?"

I think it is a case of "The courts see election results as well as everyone else". The court here is simply getting on the bandwagon of a trend that has already been long underway. 48 states now have concealed carry permit systems. Ask people what the 2nd amendment means, and 98 percent of them will say that it means that I can have a gun and keep it in my home.

This battle was won in the hearts and minds of the people long ago. The elites and the MSM tried to change that with lots of propaganda over the last 70 years, but with the breaking of the MSM oligarchy, they failed decisively.

[zeugma]

I think other than the war on terror, President Bush is extremely effective on protecting our 2nd amendments.

Even the Democratic Congress do not dare to pass new "Gun Control" laws (yet).

Wil you say the same after Bush signs a new "assault weapons" ban? He's already said he would. 

[antisocial]

I have often wondered how this gun ban could be maintained in DC. Nearly all the congressmen maintain residences there, one would think that at least a few of them would like to have a firearm for personal protection. You would think that they would have filed suit aganst DC when the ban first began.--nevermind, there's probably none of them that actually like the 2nd amendment.

[TigersEye]

No, it wasn't Marion Barry it's a new guy. He said he was "OUTRAGED" at this decision. LOL What a goof.

[TigersEye]

Somehow federal officials and employees are exempt. Whether legally or by a "look-the-other-way" policy I don't know. Remember that Vince Foster was found in Ft. Marcy Park with a gun that was said to be his.

(Never mind that it was black or dk. blue and his wife recollected he did own a "silver" pistol; the point is no one questioned his possession of a pistol in DC.)

Since he had just left the WH and gone straight to FMP he had to have had it in his car at the very least at the WH.

[George W. Bush]

I'm not sure whether it was extremely effective or not, but Ashcroft's letter to the state's attorney generals affirming that the 2nd Amendment is an individual right was cited in the Appeals Court decision, and the Justice Department filed a brief in support of the appellants.

I think that Lawrence Tribe, liberal Harvard law professor and Gore's lawyer before the Court in 2000, probably influenced a lot of these judges when he specifically stated that the Second Amendment had to include an individual right to arms. Tribe would probably be at the top of any Dim president's list to appoint to the Court.

This was back about 3-4 years ago. And I credit John Lott's studies and the steadfast work of RKBA organizations as well. I think they might have challenged Tribe to re-examine the liberal gungrabbing orthodoxy.

Dang, I just love this story.

[NicknamedBob]

D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty was quoted in the Washingtom Times on March 10, 2007:

"Today's decision flies in the face of laws that have helped decrease gun violence in the District of Columbia."

The same article quotes FBI statistics for 2005 as noting that homicides in DC were perpetrated 80% using guns, as compared to 68% nationwide.

[neverdem]

SHELLY PARKER, ET AL., APPELLANTS v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AND ADRIAN M. FENTY, MAYOR OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, APPELLEES

That decision should be read by anyone concerned about the Second Amendment. It's long, but it's chock full of history and very well written. It's the most comprehensive and airtight defense of it as an individual right that I have ever read. The good news is that Ginsberg and Souter agree that it means more than just "soldiering."

Court Rejects Strict Gun Law as Unconstitutional

The majority in yesterday’s decision pointed to a 1998 dissent in which “at least three current members (and one former member) of the Supreme Court have read ‘bear arms’ in the Second Amendment to have meaning beyond mere soldiering.” They were former Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who died in 2005, and Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia and David H. Souter.

The bad news is that if the SCOTUS resolves the issue as an individual right, and I hope it does, then the GOP might lose a lot of those single issue voters. I think that's part of the reason the GOP lost the Congress in the last election, i.e. the dems at the national level refused to make gun control an issue, and the single issue gun rights voters stayed home.