Replies

"... IMO, I wouldn't call this an ideal case. This was a challenge to the gun control statute in California regarding the possession, use and transfer of "assault weapons"..."

That's just the response I was waiting for. Come to think of it, I believe that you were also the one of the people whose position on the Emerson threads was that it wasn't 'the ideal case we wanted in front of SCOTUS' either.

The difference is clear: The 5th Circuit Court says that there IS, and the 9th says there ISN'T.

It's not about 'assault weapons' in California.

If not this case, then what case did you have in mind? Are you waiting for Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream to overturn the language in Vermont's state constitution that states that the 2nd Amendment is an individual right before you'd be comfortable with SCOTUS hearing it?

No, really: What did you have in mind?

I gather that this case was argued by an attorney with no Second Amendment experience, and who didn't file supplemental or reply briefs at certain points in the course of the case.

Hopefully this ruling won't spook the Nordyke v. King panel into a poorly-concieved decision.

The Emerson case dealt with federal law denying guns to those under restraining orders. If the USSC ruled in our favor, what would we get -- that a restraining order should have no bearing on an individual's right to possess guns? Whoop-dee-do. Big victory. We're just right back to where we were before 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8) became law.

You want Silveira v. Lockyer in front of the USSC, fine.

You know it's not about "assault weapons". I know it's not about "assault weapons". But that's exactly how Sarah Brady and the anti-gun nazis are going to frame it: "The NRA AND THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION WANT TO LEGALIZE MACHINE GUNS!!". And the press will eat it up because this is for all the marbles, isn't it?

If we lose this one, you can cry about how this wasn't about machine guns, or "assault weapons", or even semi-automatic rifles. By then it's too late.

In the future, if you really want to know what type of case I have in mind, don't patronize me with a Ben and Jerry's example.