Read about it here:
According to the majority opinion, "[T]he phrase 'the right of the people,' when read intratextually and in light of Supreme Court precedent, leads us to conclude that the right in question is individual." The majority opinion sums up its holding on this point as follows:
To summarize, we conclude that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. That right existed prior to the formation of the new government under the Constitution and was premised on the private use of arms for activities such as hunting and self-defense, the latter being understood as resistance to either private lawlessness or the depredations of a tyrannical government (or a threat from abroad). In addition, the right to keep and bear arms had the important and salutary civic purpose of helping to preserve the citizen militia. The civic purpose was also a political expedient for the Federalists in the First Congress as it served, in part, to placate their Antifederalist opponents. The individual right facilitated militia service by ensuring that citizens would not be barred from keeping the arms they would need when called forth for militia duty. Despite the importance of the Second Amendment's civic purpose, however, the activities it protects are not limited to militia service, nor is an individual's enjoyment of the right contingent upon his or her continued or intermittent enrollment in the militia.
The majority opinion also rejects the argument that the Second Amendment does not apply to the District of Columbia because it is not a State. And the majority opinion concludes, "Section 7-2507.02, like the bar on carrying a pistol within the home, amounts to a complete prohibition on the lawful use of handguns for self-defense. As such, we hold it unconstitutional."
Lrt's hope it makes to USSC and they rule the same way.
ReplyDeleteAs clearly written as the ruling seems(I've only waded part-way through the legal thickets)anyone who appeals it would be insane, unless they want it upheld. Right now, aides are probably holding Sarah Brady and Josh Sugarman down so they can't call their attorneys and challenge it.
ReplyDeleteStaff in DC are applying smelling salts to Pelosi, et al.
It will probably go to the SCOTUS anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe decision flys in the face of rulings by the Ninth that the 2nd is not an individual right.
From the VPC press release:
ReplyDelete"If the ruling in this case is upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, it has the potential to lay the groundwork for literally every local, state, and federal gun law in America to be challenged: from the federal ban on gun possession by felons, to the ban on carrying guns onto airplanes, to the ban on the manufacture of fully automatic machine guns for civilian use."
A man can dream, can't he?