Replies

If I had to guess I would say that if they agree to hear this case they will probably try to take the middle road, even though there should not be a middle road when it comes to basic Bill of Rights stuff. They will probably find that the 2nd is indeed about an individual right, but that as the 5th Circuit ruled, it is a right that is subject to certain "narrowly tailored restrictions". That will simply put us right back in the same old place where we are today: enemies of freedom trying to expand this definition and RKBA advocates vociferously playing defense.

My own interpretation is that the 2nd speaks of an unrestricted right to own and carry any type of small arm, and that ALL gun laws, both state and federal are unconstitutional where they abridge the RKBA for law-abiding citizens. That means Vermont CCW; that means no waiting period; that means full-auto, short-barreled, and/or suppressed small arms. That means .50 cal portable rifles. And no damn registration, licensing, and/or fees.

"The (USSC) will probably find that the 2nd is indeed about an individual right, but that as the 5th Circuit ruled, it is a right that is subject to certain "narrowly tailored restrictions"."

I tend to agree. I just wonder how they would handle a chanllenge to a federal import ban on "assault weapons" when they have just overruled a state ben on the same rifles. Would we win after the SC opens the individual rights door, or is there some distinction the SC could make between a California ban and a federal import ban?

(Or a federal ban on transferring new machine guns to civilians who qualify and pay the transfer tax?)

I cannot believe they used Bellesiles as a source. Nor can I believe that they used one sentence from a Parade article quoting Warren Burger.

This opionin will get to SCOTUS, because of the dispute with Fifth Circuit's Emerson decision (which they declined to hear last year, iirc). Placed up against the scholarship of the Fifth, this opinion will be held up for what it is: a joke.

What Scalia will do to this "court" is frightening.

Be Seeing You,

Chris