Home > The Barr Code > Archives > 2008 > February > 12
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
High court ruling expected on right to possess a firearm
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For the first time in the 217 years since the Second Amendment to our Constitution was adopted as part of the Bill of Rights, the Supreme Court is likely to rule this spring or summer that the amendment does indeed protect the right of an individual citizen to possess a firearm.
Yes, you heard that right; even though there have been numerous Supreme Court rulings over the years that interpret or touch on the Second Amendment, the high court has never addressed that threshold question clearly and directly. Gun control advocates argue that the amendment merely guarantees the rights of citizens participating in state militias to possess firearms for that purpose.
Many states, cities and the District of Columbia have enacted strict, even prohibitory limitations on firearms possession. In fact, it is the 30-year old District of Columbia gun ban that triggered the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to rule almost a year ago that the Second Amendment clearly guarantees an individual right and that D.C.’s ban is so restrictive as to be unconstitutional.
I and many other observers and participants (I filed a friend-of-the-court brief this week in support of the lower court decision) expect the Supreme Court to agree with the Court of Appeals that the right is in fact an individual one, and that the D.C. ban is impermissibly broad.
While the high court may leave open the ultimate question of exactly what sort of limits governments may reasonably place on the exercise of the right guaranteed under the Second Amendment, if a majority at least rules that it does reflect an individual right and that a state or local government cannot simply ban firearms possession outright, that will be welcome news to all Americans who believe in common sense, the primacy of individual rather than government power, and in the right to defend one self.
A majority of House of Representatives and Senate members, Democrats and Republicans, have joined friend-of-the-court briefs in support of the Second Amendment and against the District of Columbia.
Services »
