Washington DC Handgun Ban - Overturned by SCOTUS

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/26/scotus.guns/index.html

CNN said:

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a sweeping ban on handguns in the nation's capital violated the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

The justices voted 5-4 against the ban, with Justice Antonin Scalia writing the opinion for the majority.

At issue in District of Columbia v. Heller was whether Washington's ban violated the right to "keep and bear arms" by preventing individuals -- as opposed to state militias -- from having guns in their homes.

"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," Scalia wrote. "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."

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Coming on the heels of the absolutely mind-boggling SCOTUS decision that reduced the punitive damages in the Exxon Valdez verdict, this reinforces my ambivalence towards the current court, given how fervently I support this decision.

What do you think?

I think it's fantastic. What I need to see now is for the citizens of the restrictive states (California, NY, CT, MD, Mass, my home state of NJ) take their states to court. Even though the AWB sunsetted in 2004, NJ still bans a number of firearms by name.

Now I wonder how this will impact places like NYC where it's virtually impossible to own a weapon, let alone actually carry it. I've said for years the interpretation of the 2nd Amendment as applying to a militia made no sense. After all, every country by definition needs an armed militia. No need to put it in the constitution. I'm glad the court saw things my way for a change. Also note that the decision was 5 to 4 in favor. We came this close to losing forever one of the most basic of human rights-the right to self-defense.

We've got a long road ahead but damn if this isn't nice beach to take on the way there. For the first time we are using incrementalism to our advantage. Tonight we celebrate, tomorrow we get off this beach.

Chris

I'm glad I live in a civilized country where almost noone has a handgun (not even the police!)

A good day for those of us who value our freedom and accept the responsibility that comes with it.

And Flintstone, I'm glad you're happy where you are. Just be careful and make sure there's a policeman on every corner to protect you.

5-4, give it a couple more years for the sheeple mindset to take hold, it'll be 4-5.

We now retrieve the right to own a gun but I believe the ruling still may allow municipalities to "regulate" how you can possess or use a weapon.

Chicago and some of it's surrounding suburbs currently ban ownership of handguns. The new ruling may allow one to protect one's home from now on but what about on the street? There is no concealed carry law in Illinois.

Gonna be in intresting couple of years in this arena. It's a big step, but we've still got a long way to go.

Support the NRA and your local/state affiliate.

jzmtl said:

5-4, give it a couple more years for the sheeple mindset to take hold, it'll be 4-5.

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This was the first 2nd amendment case to reach them in 80 years and the first since the bill of rights to literally address the language in the 2nd amendment.

So I for one don't think it can be changed any time soon.

Flintstone said:

I'm glad I live in a civilized country where almost noone has a handgun (not even the police!)

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Oh, just the criminals, right?:thinking:

BIGIRON said:

Just be careful and make sure there's a policeman on every corner to protect you.

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With what? A whistle and a baton?

Any day that you get to watch the likes of Richard Daly pop a blood vessel because he is so pissed off :mecry:is a good day.

Brigadier said:

Oh, just the criminals, right?:thinking:

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Most criminals don't either... We have around 25-30 killings a year (population of 4,5mill) - I would suppose at most 1/2 of them would be gun related.

And Norwegians pitty ppl who support organizations like the NRA of course. It's a downward spiral.

(edit: seems like we have a lot of old and competition weapons here - we just don't seem to use them...)

cslinger said:

We've got a long road ahead but damn if this isn't nice beach to take on the way there. For the first time we are using incrementalism to our advantage. Tonight we celebrate, tomorrow we get off this beach.

Chris

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+10, cslinger... and a good summary of the task ahead.

The SCOTUS ruling constitutes a major speed-bump for the American Left's plan to turn the whole country into one big nanny-state Day Care Center ("for the children," of course).

On the other hand, the fact that 4 Supremes actually opposed this moderate and historically-grounded majority decision (and thus re-write the Constitution -- thereby short-circuiting our rigorous amendment process) is scary as hell. It illustrates the profound ideological differences we'll continue to battle in the ongoing Great American Gun War.

Anti-gun/pacifist firearms illiterates unfailingly reveal their technical ignorance and political agenda whenever they open their mouths. (Hello news media, politically-intolerant academics, "tolerant" Hollywood, and sneaky U.N. anti-sovereignty Bolsheviks!). They all desire to incrementally disarm us and push the U.S. toward becoming another Euro-socialist nirvana "for the common good" blah-blah, etcetera... where (a) we're all lobotomized "subjects," NOT feisty, tyranny-opposing citizens with inalienable rights, and (b) the Elites Who Know What's Best For Us rule. They ain't going away.

Liberty ain't free.
____________________________________

"Change" we can believe in: a law mandating that everyone change their underwear daily.

Flintstone said:

And Norwegians pitty ppl who support organizations like the NRA of course. It's a downward spiral.

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It's a FREEDOM thing. You wouldn't understand.

Flintstone,

I have no problem with your point of view or your part of the world, laws etc. but I think one of the things a lot of folks tend to get wrong is that the 2nd amendment fight in the United States isn't strictly about firearms or firearms ownership. It is about our laws and the God given rights that the framers of our country felt important when they pulled us rabble together.

Do I think everybody should be running around shooting each other on a whim....hell no. I do, however think, that we (as in Americans) need to respect our supreme laws and the ideals that our founders had in mind. I have also found the 2nd amendment to a barometer of other freedoms in a given place.

Once again, please do not take my reply to you as dismissive of your point of view or culture. The fact is though our culture is just as different from yours as yours is different from Japans and I think we must respect these differences.

Once again to me this court win is a step in the right direction for freedom and the values this country was founded on. It is as much a stepping stone to taking back and protecting our 1st, 4th and so on amendments. With me it's not strictly about the 2nd its about all of them.

To the other "gunnies" on this board I would ask that you put your best foot forward and show respect to those folks who may not share the same beliefs or culture. Just because somebody disagrees with us does not make them the enemy and being tenacious in our fight does not mean we cannot be gracious in our victories and in our education of those we wish to win over.

Take care and I thank you for your posting.

Wow that was close. Now we know that four people in Supreme Court have to go.

Wow that was close.

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Tell me about it. Again what stresses me out is that this particular case was about the second what other amendments do they want to redefine.

cslinger:

I understand your points. I have respect for people who live in what could only be described as warzones in the US.

Most people who despise Americans haven't been to the US. It's the most friendly country I know of, and it's a great place to visit (and we can't wait to go back!) I am just a bit scared about people carrying concealed weapons and owning a gun just because you can.

As naive Norwegians we at one point ended up shopping one evening outside Las Vegas - and almost didn't get a cab back to town (several went by - noone would stop for us even though they were empty). None of the Taxi companies were apparently allowed to stop and pick ppl up in this neighbourhood we were in. Nothing bad happened of course (we got "saved" by a friendly cabby in the end), but you start to think. We have nothing like that here.

I absolutely didn't want to start any flame war here I've seen the pictures of flashlights and guns and know there might be more gun collectors here than on other forums...