John McCain Statement on Supreme Court Ruling on Second Amendment

johnmccain.com ^ | June 26, 2008 | Senator John McCain

[Dems_R_Losers]

ARLINGTON, VA-- U.S. Senator John McCain today issued the following statement regarding today's United States Supreme Court ruling on District of Columbia v. Heller:

"Today's decision is a landmark victory for Second Amendment freedom in the United States. For this first time in the history of our Republic, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms was and is an individual right as intended by our Founding Fathers. I applaud this decision as well as the overturning of the District of Columbia's ban on handguns and limitations on the ability to use firearms for self-defense.

Unlike Senator Obama, who refused to join me in signing a bipartisan amicus brief, I was pleased to express my support and call for the ruling issued today. Today's ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller makes clear that other municipalities like Chicago that have banned handguns have infringed on the constitutional rights of Americans. Unlike the elitist view that believes Americans cling to guns out of bitterness, today's ruling recognizes that gun ownership is a fundamental right- sacred, just as the right to free speech and assembly.

This ruling does not mark the end of our struggle against those who seek to limit the rights of law-abiding citizens. We must always remain vigilant in defense of our freedoms. But today, the Supreme Court ended forever the specious argument that the Second Amendment did not confer an individual right to keep and bear arms.

[tumblindice]

“you have a long way to go Johnny to get my vote”

Juan tosses conservative yahoos a bone, and they begin wetting themselves like beaten dogs....
I wouldn’t p*** on Teddy’s buddy if he were on fire.

[Christian4Bush]

+1

[Old Teufel Hunden]

"Now the dems don't have to talk about guns --which for them has been nothing but a vote loser. "

I think you're wrong. This Heller case brings the gun rights issue to the forefront of the debate during this election cycle. Now the press has to ask Obama questions like do you agree with this ruling, if not why not. Also, when the handgun banning laws are challenged and brought down in Chicago and New York he will be asked about it again. Also, it was a 5-4 decision so he could be asked if he would select judges to the court that support this point of view.

[RangerVA]

Very nice!

[Dems_R_Losers]

That's the whole statement. No pandering to liberals anywhere. If anything he stuck a thumb right in their eye by citing Chicago.

This is a winning issue for McCain and he knows it. It's outrageous that this was a 5-4 decision; it should have been 9-0. McCain's going to get a lot of conservatives back on board by reminding them what is at stake in this election.

I was sort of a Mitt Romney fan, but Romney never took on the gun control laws in Massachusetts and it would have been completely hypocritical for him to have made the statement that McCain did today.

[Gaffer]

The closeness of the decision has made me begin to rethink my position with respect to McCain. Time will tell.

[Norman Bates]

The McCain List.
Common sense conservatism

[Mr. Lucky]

How does the 14th Amendment not cause the protections of the 2nd Amendment to apply to the actions of state and local government?

[Sandy]

How does the 14th Amendment not cause the protections of the 2nd Amendment to apply to the actions of state and local government?

RKBA *should* be protected by the 14th, but it isn't. See, the Justices pick and choose which rights matter most, and RKBA hasn't been chosen yet. They can ignore enumerated rights while pulling unenumerated rights out of their butts, and somehow they still manage to sleep at night. Sucks but it's true.

[supercat]

RKBA *should* be protected by the 14th, but it isn't. See, the Justices pick and choose which rights matter most, and RKBA hasn't been chosen yet.

I see nothing in my copy of the Constitution that says that it is the almost-Supreme Law of the Land, secondary only to Supreme Court decisions which run counter to it.

The Fourteenth Amendment makes clear that civilian disarmament is illegitimate regardless of when or whether the Supreme Court decides to recognize that fact.

BTW, no part of the Bill of Rights or Fourteenth amendment "protects" anything. All they do is inform people that certain things a government might try to do would be illegitimate. It's up to the people to decide what to do with that information.