Supreme Court Debates AND AFFIRMS 2nd Amendment

Supreme Court rules in favor of gun ownership rights By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer 38 minutes ago



The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Americans have a constitutional right to keep guns in their homes for self-defense, the justices' first major pronouncement on gun control in U.S. history.

The court's 5-4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia's 32-year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment. The decision went further than even the Bush administration wanted, but probably leaves most firearms restrictions intact.

The court had not conclusively interpreted the Second Amendment since its ratification in 1791. The amendment reads: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

The basic issue for the justices was whether the amendment protects an individual's right to own guns no matter what, or whether that right is somehow tied to service in a state militia.

Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said that an individual right to bear arms is supported by "the historical narrative" both before and after the Second Amendment was adopted.

The Constitution does not permit "the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home," Scalia said. The court also struck down Washington's requirement that firearms be equipped with trigger locks or kept disassembled, but left intact the licensing of guns.

Scalia noted that the handgun is Americans' preferred weapon of self-defense in part because "it can be pointed at a burglar with one hand while the other hand dials the police."

In a dissent he summarized from the bench, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that the majority "would have us believe that over 200 years ago, the Framers made a choice to limit the tools available to elected officials wishing to regulate civilian uses of weapons."

He said such evidence "is nowhere to be found."

Justice Stephen Breyer wrote a separate dissent in which he said, "In my view, there simply is no untouchable constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment to keep loaded handguns in the house in crime-ridden urban areas."

Joining Scalia were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas. The other dissenters were Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter.

Gun rights supporters hailed the decision. "I consider this the opening salvo in a step-by-step process of providing relief for law-abiding Americans everywhere that have been deprived of this freedom," said Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association.

The NRA will file lawsuits in San Francisco, Chicago and several of its suburbs challenging handgun restrictions there based on Thursday's outcome.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a leading gun control advocate in Congress, criticized the ruling. "I believe the people of this great country will be less safe because of it," she said.

The capital's gun law was among the nation's strictest.

Dick Anthony Heller, 66, an armed security guard, sued the District after it rejected his application to keep a handgun at his Capitol Hill home a short distance from the Supreme Court.

"I'm thrilled I am now able to defend myself and my household in my home," Heller said shortly after the opinion was announced.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in Heller's favor and struck down Washington's handgun ban, saying the Constitution guarantees Americans the right to own guns and that a total prohibition on handguns is not compatible with that right.

The issue caused a split within the Bush administration. Vice President Dick Cheney supported the appeals court ruling, but others in the administration feared it could lead to the undoing of other gun regulations, including a federal law restricting sales of machine guns. Other laws keep felons from buying guns and provide for an instant background check.

White House reaction was restrained. "We're pleased that the Supreme Court affirmed that the Second Amendment protects the right of Americans to keep and bear arms," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.

Scalia said nothing in Thursday's ruling should "cast doubt on long-standing prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons or the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings."

In a concluding paragraph to the his 64-page opinion, Scalia said the justices in the majority "are aware of the problem of handgun violence in this country" and believe the Constitution "leaves the District of Columbia a variety of tools for combating that problem, including some measures regulating handguns."

The law adopted by Washington's city council in 1976 bars residents from owning handguns unless they had one before the law took effect. Shotguns and rifles may be kept in homes, if they are registered, kept unloaded and either disassembled or equipped with trigger locks.

Opponents of the law have said it prevents residents from defending themselves. The Washington government says no one would be prosecuted for a gun law violation in cases of self-defense.

The last Supreme Court ruling on the topic came in 1939 in U.S. v. Miller, which involved a sawed-off shotgun. Constitutional scholars disagree over what that case means but agree it did not squarely answer the question of individual versus collective rights.

Forty-four state constitutions contain some form of gun rights, which are not affected by the court's consideration of Washington's restrictions.

The case is District of Columbia v. Heller, 07-290.

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Do not consider anything for your interest which makes you break your word, quit your modesty, or inclines you to any practice which will not bear the light, or look the world in the face .... Marcus Antonius

I AM Some Folks "KARMA" and A MODERATOR @ FRN

Great.

_________________
If the world didn't suck we would all fall off. (Luvonda)
Nobody has power over you that you do not allow them to have. (Scott)
Be careful of the seeds you plant because one day they will be harvested.

Dave
Private Investigator
Licensed by the NYS DOS Division of Licensing

I was following this from the very beginning..
It's your constitutional right to bear arms..
Let someone try to take that away..you'll wrestle my guns out of my cold hands....

_________________
Kate
650.863.8470

" Yeah, I see ya, you ding dong..."

Well, you can bet your 'bippi' that on the very few occasions that I had to enter DC looking for a skip.... I had my little .40 with me... regardless of the laws... I am sure I should have left it at home in VA but I would rather try and explain to a judge, than be looking out of the casket.

It will still be an uphill battle throughout the country, especially in view of the coming political tide that will no doubt be in place in the coming years............... since I am 64, I probably won't have to fight these battle another 60 years.

If you are under 30, you will have your hands full, but then I guess the crowd in "Concord and Lexington" back when... had their hands much fuller than we do.

The word "FREE" in my company name speaks to more than bail bonds.................

_________________
Bill Marx, Sr.
"FREE STATE BAIL BONDS"
"FREE STATE INVESTIGATIONS"
DCJS: 99-176979
Cell: 434-294-0222

"Endeavor to Persevere" "Lone Watie"

"Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that , comes from bad judgment" "Will Rogers"

I like that....

Bill... what is the saying: "Sometimes it is better to have to have to explain an action than to waste time asking for permission" or maybe "it is better to have to have to appologize for action than to have to ask for permission to act".....Something like that.

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********************
Thomas SnoWolf
FRN# 1999
GAPB 20120726
NSIS ST0707
http://www.rocksolidrg.com
"The hero is not the man that acts without fear,
He is the man that acts inspite of fear"

My kids use that on me all the time....... they "borrow" or use stuff from my garage or where ever... and when I notice it has been used or is gone........ I start asking questions and the answer is always.... " we would rather ask forgiveness than permission"

What can I say....................

ALSO: I have always said that "guns and bail bonds" are like umbrellas.... if it rains, you better have one.

_________________
Bill Marx, Sr.
"FREE STATE BAIL BONDS"
"FREE STATE INVESTIGATIONS"
DCJS: 99-176979
Cell: 434-294-0222

"Endeavor to Persevere" "Lone Watie"

"Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that , comes from bad judgment" "Will Rogers"

What the lawyer from DC failed to explain clearly is the long guns allowed to be in a homeowners possession had to have been registered back in the 70's., and they haven't allowed registration since.

Scott

_________________
R.E. "Scott" MacLean III

"Leaders are like Eagles, you never see them in a flock, but one at a time"

Chesapeake Group Investigations, Inc.
Chesapeake Bail Bonds
877-574-0500
301-392-1100 (fax)
301-392-1900 (Office)

....... is the ruling shown on any website that we can access and read? I did not see anything on the SC website as yet....... maybe coming as they add it later.........


edited post........ just found it at the following:

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/ ... inion.html

scroll down and click on: District of Columbia v. Heller

_________________
Bill Marx, Sr.
"FREE STATE BAIL BONDS"
"FREE STATE INVESTIGATIONS"
DCJS: 99-176979
Cell: 434-294-0222

"Endeavor to Persevere" "Lone Watie"

"Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that , comes from bad judgment" "Will Rogers"

O K
You guys I was watching the 10 O'Clock News (actually made into the L/R) and I was laughing my butt off. With the very fact that people in DC can now have hand guns (legally) . . . some guy walks into the 7-11, grabs a banana off the counter and aims it the clerk and trys to rob the store . . . The Clerk, realizing that the banana still had the safety (peel) on grabbed a knife (we all know what a knife can do to a banana) and chased the banana weilder out the door preventing the robbery.
Sounds like a joke, right. But it really was on the 10PM News.
It really just goes to PROVE that it is NOT GUNS it IS PEOPLE

Sorry Scott I just had to call somebody out there and I know you best

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Do not consider anything for your interest which makes you break your word, quit your modesty, or inclines you to any practice which will not bear the light, or look the world in the face .... Marcus Antonius

I AM Some Folks "KARMA" and A MODERATOR @ FRN

Luvonda, when I am half asleep and half awake watching a truck race, I expect a booty call or at least some dirty talk...
I had to process the Banana robbery before I realized what was going on, and I take no offense to the crazy things that go on around here. I just got a bond call from a frequent flier that got locked up yesterday for shop lifting from WalMart. The funny thing is I heard it go down on the scanner yesterday. The WalMart security was screaming for back up because they were wrestling with the guy in front of the store, the local Sheriff's Department said to slow the response down, it is their investigation and arrest, not ours.

Gotta love the drama around here. I do not understand how the Mayor of DC, Fenty, can get on camera with a straight face and say that they are afraid of the crime that will be associated with homeowners now being allowed to have guns, when the city is always vying for #1 or #2 in murder per capital and has for 20 years or more.

Scott

_________________
R.E. "Scott" MacLean III

"Leaders are like Eagles, you never see them in a flock, but one at a time"

Chesapeake Group Investigations, Inc.
Chesapeake Bail Bonds
877-574-0500
301-392-1100 (fax)
301-392-1900 (Office)