Shall NOT be infringed.
WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court overturned the District of Columbia’s long-standing handgun ban Friday, rejecting the city’s argument that the Second Amendment right to bear arms applied only to militias.
In a 2-1 decision, the judges held that the activities protected by the Second Amendment ”are not limited to militia service, nor is an individual’s enjoyment of the right contingent” on enrollment in a militia.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the city cannot prevent people from keeping handguns in their homes. The ruling also struck down a requirement that owners of registered firearms keep them unloaded and disassembled.
This is fabulous news. A part of the second most important court in the country woke up and realized that the right to keep and bear arms belongs to each of us. They fully acknowledged that we had the right to defend ourselves from criminals, tyrannical governments and foreign invaders.
My biggest rush was actually from the dissenting opinion.
They quoted the dissenting judge, Karen Henderson, as saying the Second Amendment doesn’t apply in D.C. because “it is not a state”.
Double Wow!
So even the dissenting judge realizes that the people residing in the states have a right to defend themselves. If that’s the best they can do we must be sitting pretty good. According to this story even this judge agrees that I have a right to defend myself.
Of course her opinion is wrong in the fact that the constitution says “the people” and not residents of the states. So of course the poor residents of DC have a God given right to defend themselves too. But if she can’t argue about the basic reality of the Second Amendment it’s a great day. I doubt that the powers that be picked this three judge panel because of their fondness for guns.
From my reading the Second Amendment has never really had a good Supreme Court test. The most recent and clearest(?) was the Miller decision where the Court gave Miller the chance to prove that the sawed off shotgun he was charged to have as being suitable for militia purposes. The issue was never solved because by then Mr. Miller had passed on. But it seems that since sawed off shotguns had been fairly effective in the War to End All Wars he would have had a fairly easy task.
I heard Rush talking about this yesterday and I was happier than heck about the decision. What do you think?