Supreme Court & the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

Keep and Bear Arms ^ | 15 Macrh 2002 | KABA Staff

[45Auto]

To borrow a phrase from the enemies of freedom: The matter of the individual right to keep and bear arms is "well-settled" by the US SC.

[tubebender]

Bump for later

[Eagle Eye]

230 grain bumps.

[Mitchell]

Bump.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Question:

Does Lopez mean that one may manufacture one's own machine gun, as long as one doesn't take it out of state? Does one have to register it and pay $200?

[45Auto]

Does Lopez mean that one may manufacture one's own machine gun, as long as one doesn't take it out of state? Does one have to register it and pay $200?

Under the 1934 NFA, technically, individuals can possess full-auto if they apply for a license in advance of actually obtaining the unit. This is a Federal law, and some have argued that it is unconstitutional since requiring fees for the exercise of a Constitutional right is 'prior restraint' and therefore unconstitutional. However, if you live in California, you cannot own full-auto (even if you qualify under the NFA) because state laws forbid it. California law has therefore 'over-ridden' federal statute - probably that is also unconstitutional.

These laws stand partially because NO court in California nor the 9th Federal Circuit Court (as the cuurent makeup of those bodies is) will EVER rule in favor of the RKBA and against these laws and partially because nobody wants to 'do time' while waiting for their case to come up before the US SC.

[hobbes1]

No it isn't those are al parts of rulings that don;t carry the effect of a Ruling itself.

However, this is precisely the reason the current administration is arguing that A$$hole Seth Waxmans position in Emerson.

P.S. with regards to Emerson, can anybody hazard a guess as to which Circuit, Pickering was nominated for ? (5Th) I would be willing to bet in the back rooms, that matter was discussed, most of that circuit are Reagan/Bush appointees.

[chainsaw]

Bookmarked

[the crow]

makes me feel better. 2A bump.

[eloy]

Keeper!

[Waco]

When gov't attorneys are before the S.C. is the court supposed to be naive? The attys. "neglected" to mention that shotguns were a military weapon. Didn't the court members already know these facts? Of course they did! This smells to high heaven.

[supercat]

You should look up and add the Thompson/Center Arms case (US Supreme Court--sorry no cite handy) to the list. While the decision was narrowly writtenm, the government nonetheless clearly and unambiguously lost at the Supreme Court level.

[FreePaul]

All this sounds good but it will last only until the Supreme Court starts to rule against the second amendment. This can happen any time the court majority decides that the second amendment shouldn't stand in the way of protecting people from themselves. The present court has ruled that some of the things in the bill of rights don't really mean what they say. There are constant attempts to reverse each of the mentioned decisions.

[gunshy]

Then why, praytell, do we have so many damned antigun laws on the states and federal books?

[krogers58]

To all:

I live in the peoples republic of Illionois, which entirely bans the right to carry a concealed weapon. I have recently moved here, and was not aware of this, before I had moved here, as the state I had lived in did allow CCW permits. I guess the questions I have are: Is this constitutional? What the heck can I do about this? Can I file suit in federal court to challenge the constitutionality of this law? I suspect if it were that easy, it would already have been done. Are there other states where people have challenged this type of law? If so, does anyone know the outcome of the court decisions? I suspect that I wouldn't get a fair hearing in the state courts, and would need to go federal to even have a chance?

[hoosierham]

Quite possibly the LAWYERS on the Supreme Court have no idea shotguns were used in the military;there is also a ridiculous judicial/legal tradition of ignoring all facts not presented in a case even if the parties and judges know those facts.

[45Auto]

The current make-up of the 5th Circuit is just about 50-50 with half being appointed by Bill The Rat and Jimmy Carter and the other half by Bush The Elder and Reagan. Yes, Pickering was nominated for a seat on the 5th Circuit; I'd rather see him and his conservative colleagues put on the 9th Circuit, so we MIGHT get some favorable RKBA rulings in the future here in the fascist state of California. As it is, there is very little reason to try and bring a federal lawsuit on behalf of anybody's RKBA in the 9th Circuit district, because they NEVER rule favorably on the RKBA. The 9th Circuit upheld the very unconstitutional Roberti-Roos AW ban, even though it was challenged on six separate Constitutional issues, including the 2nd.

[45Auto]

Then why, praytell, do we have so many damned antigun laws on the states and federal books?

Because there are very few committed RKBA advocates working on a nearly daily basis to protect everyone's right to own arms. The answer is that most people, including gun owners, really don't care or don't think that the RKBA will really be completely gutted.

[hobbes1]

In either case that is what I was getting at. Though when I looked today, at their wbsite, thought that there were more Reagan/Bush.