I don’t recall his name right now but they guy who paid for this case needs to be thanked. He should never have to buy a steak for the rest of his life.
I think all of us would buy Heller a steak right now, along with 5 of the Justices. A steak, a cigar and a whiskey.
Big bump to that. The irony is that this case was funded and pushed by a libertarian with his own funds if I'm not mistaken.
Yes, I agree. And let me be among the first, if not THE first, to do this:
THANK YOU PRESIDENT BUSH!!!
Heller quotes from the majority
Thursday, June 26th, 2008 10:27 am | Tom Goldstein | Comments Off |
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Quotes from the opinion:
Logic demands that there be a link between the stated purpose and the command.
We start therefore with a strong presumption that the Second Amendment right is exercised individually and belongs to all Americans.
the most natural reading of keep Arms in the Second Amendment is to have weapons.
The term was applied, then as now, to weapons that were not specifically designed for military use and were not employed in a military capacity.
Putting all of these textual elements together, we find that they guarantee the individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation.
Thus, we do not read the Second Amendment to protect the right of citizens to carry arms for any sort of confrontation, just as we do not read the First Amendment to protect the right of citizens to speak for any purpose.
The prefatory clause does not suggest that preserving the militia was the only reason Americans valued the ancient right; most undoubtedly thought it even more important for self-defense and hunting.
It was plainly the understanding in the post-Civil War Congress that the Second Amendment protected an individual right to use arms for self-defense.
Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited.
Although we do not undertake an exhaustive historical analysis today of the full scope of the Second Amendment, nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.
We also recognize another important limitation on the right to keep and carry arms. Miller said, as we have explained, that the sorts of weapons protected were those in common use at the time. 307 U. S., at 179.