Thursday, June 26, 2008
In a landmark decision, the US Supreme Court struck down a 32-year-old handgun ban in the District of Columbia, thus reinforcing the wishes of America's founding fathers and giving gun owners every where a reason to breathe easy about their second amendment rights.
In its 5-4 ruling, the high court unambiguously returned the rights of gun ownership to individuals rather than granting individual states the "collective" right to form armed militias. The highly-detailed, 67-page order examines the Second Amendment in-depth and provides clear and convincing support that while gun violence may be a problem, gun ownership shouldn't be.
From the ruling:
We are aware of the problem of handgun violence in this country, and we take seriously the concerns raised by the many amici who believe that prohibition of handgun ownership is a solution ... But the enshrinement of constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy choices off the table. These include the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home. Undoubtedly some think that the Second Amendment is outmoded in a society where our standing army is the pride of our Nation, where well-trained police forces provide personal security, and where gun violence is a serious problem. That is perhaps debatable, but what is not debatable is that it is not the role of this Court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct.The sheer scope of the DC ban was shocking. Although the DC law claimed to make an exception for self-defense, the Supreme Court's decision, delivered by Justice Antonin Scalia, says banning handguns from being used to stop an intruder from entering one's home essentially invalidates that exception. Additionally, DC lawyers maintained that the handgun ban was legal because long guns were still permitted. A majority of the Supremes disagreed:
Whatever the reason, handguns are the most popular weapon chosen by Americans for self-defense in the home, and a complete prohibition of their use is invalid.The DC handgun ban was ruled unconstitutional in March 2008 by a federal appeals court on the grounds it violated the second amendment, the “right of the people to keep and bear arms.” It was the first time a court has used the second amendment to find a gun law unconstitutional.
Pro-gun conservatives everywhere should be rejoicing over the Supreme Court's decision. Gun violence in Washington, DC has only risen since the handgun ban went into effect. Meanwhile, victims of gun crimes haven't been able to defend themselves thanks to the handgun ban. Not only did the ban not have the results DC leaders had hoped for, it's quite possible it had the opposite effect.
Thanks to the Supreme Court, that will no longer be the case. The majority's decision ensures that responsible citizens have access to handguns, without affecting federal restrictions on machine guns or the prohibition against firearms for convicted felons.
Besides Scalia, Supreme Court Justices John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Anthony Kennedy voiced their support to the ruling. Justices John Paul Stevens, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter dissented.
The case of DC v. Heller will undoubtedly prove to be as uplifting to the conservative movement in the long term as the decision of Roe v. Wade was dissappointing. The court acted judiciously in overturning a law that should never have been passed in the first place. The ruling is a victory for conservatives, gun owners and the second amendment.
