Court: Yes, Chicago, there is a Second Amendment
It will take some time to digest all 214 pages of opinions in today’s Supreme Court ruling in a gun-rights case. But this much is clear: A 5-4 majority of justices said gun-ownership rights are “fundamental to the Nation’s scheme of ordered liberty,” and that city and state governments therefore can’t deny them.
Legal scholars will debate the way the justices went about affirming the “fundamental” nature of the Second Amendment; there was some disagreement even within the five-justice majority. But the key to the case, titled McDonald v. Chicago, was whether the Second Amendment is truly integral to our system of government.
As Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority, the Court had already answered that question in its Heller decision, which struck down a handgun ban in the District of Columbia:
Self-defense is a basic right, recognized by many legal systems from ancient times to the present day, and in Heller, we held that individual self-defense is “the central component” of the Second Amendment right. (Italics original)
If the thorniest of our policy debates are, to use a football analogy, played between the 40-yard-lines, Chicago’s ban on handguns, even those kept in homes for self-defense purposes, was an attempt to pin the pro-gun rights crowd inside its own 10-yard-line and keep it there. With that said, gun rights will continue to see pushes from policy makers on both sides of the issue. As Hans von Spakovsky wrote in a Heritage Foundation blog item:
The Court clearly said that some government regulation of guns is allowed. But how far can state and local governments go? How burdensome can their regulations be? Can they decide to allow gun ownership that will enable a homeowner to protect himself and his family in his home, but prohibit the concealed carrying of a handgun? All of these questions remain unanswered by today’s opinion that was decided by a narrow one-vote majority.
So, please: No comments about how this decision is “radical” or “dangerous” or anything of the sort. The only thing here that was radical was the Chicago ordinance that has now been struck down sent back to a lower court, which will almost certainly have to strike it down. [edited at 11:48 a.m.]
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297 comments Add your comment
Cars kill more people than guns
June 28th, 2010
2:04 pm
“2,771 of the 34,617 crime scene guns recovered nationwide last year were first sold in Georgia. Behind Georgia were Florida (2,636), Virginia (2,333) and Texas (2,220).”
Ok, so that means there were 31,846 gun crimes that didn’t involve GA. You stated that GA led the nation in guns sales to criminals.
So, where is that proof?
Cars kill more people than guns
June 28th, 2010
2:04 pm
“I forgot to say, those guns were bought in gun shops, not on the street.”
Proof please.
Cars kill more people than guns
June 28th, 2010
2:05 pm
songbird
Curious, why do you not blame the criminals who committed the crimes?
CJ
June 28th, 2010
2:09 pm
Rob: “CJ, nice way to cherry-pick the portions of the amendment YOU think should be read completely out of context,…”
I don’t believe that any portion of the Constitution should be read “out of context.” To the contrary, the first half of the Second Amendment provides context for the second half.
When statistics are cited, such as Great Britian seeing a 200 percent increase, what would that be in hard numbers–an increase from ten firearm deaths to twenty, or something to that effect? The lastest statistic I’ve seen for the U.S. was something in the neighborhood of 31,000 firearm deaths in the U.S. in 2006. I’m sorry, but our friends in the U.K. and Australia aren’t even the ballpark, whether you measure firearm deaths in rates or hard numbers.
In addition Rob, you conflated violent crime rates with firearm rates in your comment? Two different statistics.
With regard to all this nonsense about crime rates in cities with strict gun laws, when such laws are only enacted at the local level (usually in response to increasing gun violence), they can only work to mitigate the damage, not eliminate it. As evidence, you might want to read the following USA Today article: “More Georgia guns again show up at out-of-state crime scenes than any other state”
CJ
June 28th, 2010
2:13 pm
The USA Today article that I linked to above referenced an AJC article. Here’s the AJC link:
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-guns-still-showing-548840.html
Cars kill more people than guns
June 28th, 2010
2:14 pm
“When statistics are cited, such as Great Britian seeing a 200 percent”
Hate to break your little bleeding heart but we’re not GB.
“I’m sorry, but our friends in the U.K. and Australia aren’t even the ballpark, whether you measure firearm deaths in rates or hard numbers.”
The UK is fast becoming a Muslim state. Australians own and carry guns.
“With regard to all this nonsense about crime rates in cities with strict gun laws, when such laws are only enacted at the local level (usually in response to increasing gun violence), they can only work to mitigate the damage, not eliminate it.”
HAHAH! You can’t even admit that those laws don’t work. What is evident is that left wingers like you are having a really hard time defending strict gun laws.
“As evidence, you might want to read the following USA Today article: “More Georgia guns again show up at out-of-state crime scenes than any other state””
2771 guns found. That’s not a lot of guns considering how many gun crimes were committed last year?
Also, if strict gun laws are needed how come cities with strict gun laws have higher crime rates than cities without strict gun laws?
Cars kill more people than guns
June 28th, 2010
2:15 pm
CJ
Why do you blame GA for criminals who would get a hold of guns/weapons no matter WHO sold it to them?
Cars kill more people than guns
June 28th, 2010
2:16 pm
CJ
Do you even realize that GB has a much smaller population than the US?
You know it's true
June 28th, 2010
2:21 pm
The militia at the time of the Constitution was the equivalent of the modern day national guard and it’s in the constitution that the President is the commander of the militia. Do you honestly think the 2nd amendment was talking about concealed handgun laws in localities or your right to a machine gun? If so, your view of the Constitution that you claim to uphold is warped.
Big D
June 28th, 2010
2:23 pm
Go ahead and ban guns…..if you are too stupid to understand why the Jews could not fight back against Hitler. It was called gun registration then and it will have the same net effect now if Obama could get it through. Read his speech in 08 in Colorado about a civilian police force larger and better funded than our Military…sounds like who? Hint, SS.
Lazarus
June 28th, 2010
2:24 pm
God has killed more people then guns…
Swampdawg
June 28th, 2010
2:24 pm
5:4 Huh? What will happened when Obama adds 2 more Progressive Liberal Judges? Will the country divide again?
Hillbilly Deluxe
June 28th, 2010
2:28 pm
If the fact that they’ll face a murder rap doesn’t keep somebody from shooting someone, do you really think they are going to worry about violating a gun law?
Cars kill more people than guns
June 28th, 2010
2:28 pm
Big D
Interesting points.
Here are a couple of observations with left wingers.
1: This morning Jay Bookman defended Robert Byrd yet has stated that the right is full of racists.
2: The left called George W Bush a Nazi yet left wingers use Nazi tactics to get things implemented.
3: The left hates capitalism yet they make their money off of it.
Big D
June 28th, 2010
2:30 pm
YKIT. the constitutions only job was the common defense, every thing else is a states right. For those who do not know what that means…a foreign power. The 2nd amendment is for protection from “Tyranny” and does mean you can have the most modern weapon of the day.
giant p
June 28th, 2010
2:37 pm
Guns are for cowardly wasps….
Big D
June 28th, 2010
2:44 pm
CKG, ask the question of your liberal friends why was MLK and his father registered Republicans. Then ask them why MLK changed parties…answer: Bobby Kennedy went down to B-ham and bailed him out with the provision he became a Democrat…ground zero for putting blacks back on the plantation. Now most are too ignorant to read and know who sponsored the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the constitution. They also forgot who the Dixie-Crats were and who REALLY fought against the voting rights act. You can’t save fools from their folly.
Big D
June 28th, 2010
2:47 pm
GP, no, illegal guns are for the punks in the hood that cause good black people to put burglar bars on their windows….or did you think that was to keep the KKK out.
Idiot.
songbird
June 28th, 2010
2:48 pm
Hello, GA has the largest number of guns sold in gun shops, i.e., legally sold, that end up in used in crimes. The count is the count or can’t you do math. The data is from the an article printed in the ajc The source is the ATF. They trace guns used in crimes.
giant p
June 28th, 2010
2:49 pm
ckg, don’t forget to ask them why republicans hate gays, blacks, jews, and immigrants…
songbird
June 28th, 2010
2:51 pm
I do blame the criminals that committed the crimes. My point is it’s too easy to buy guns in some states like GA that have lax laws. I’m not against people owning guns. As I said before I have one myself. I’m against it being so easy to get one. You have to pass a test and get a license to drive a car, why not a gun. As your moniker implies, cars kill more people than guns.
Big D
June 28th, 2010
2:53 pm
GP, are you completely stupid!
Please don’t get on a blog and show everybody you can’t assimilate anything.
Read my 2:44 and then comment on who hates who.
Obama ( who by the way is Black) has done more against Israel than any known President and by the way they ARE Jews.
Call it like it is.
June 28th, 2010
2:56 pm
CJ, what you don’t quite seem to get, is that it is our personal freedoms that makes America so great. You can’t compare America to other countries because there is no comparison. We are the worlds greatest super power because of who we are and what we do. And besides the right to vote for who we desire as our political leader, the right to carry arms carries untold power for us.
Why do we have an election every 4 years for a president? It’s because we hold the power. Why do not have a dictator? It’s because we hold the power. Throughout history, governments become corrupt and take the power away from the people, it happens everywhere, except here. It is up to the people to keep tyranny out of the land.
Go throughout history and you will see over and over the first thing any dictator, emperor, king or queen do and that is to disarm the people.
It’s not just a bumper sticker. “Fear the government, which fears your guns!”
Big D
June 28th, 2010
2:57 pm
Songbird, Detroit makes more cars that kill more people than guns. Milwaukee makes more beer that gets more people drunk….that kills more people than guns…whats your point !
songbird
June 28th, 2010
2:57 pm
Big D – blacks were initially Republicans because of the Dixiecrats. However, most of the former Dixiecrats switched parties and are now Republicans. The members of both parties have literally switched places over the years. The Republican Party I used to vote for was the party of Lincoln and Rockfellar. The current Republican Party is run by right wing extremists. If you look at the paper written by Ruy Texieria, it traces the demographics of the past 20 years for both parties and who are their voters. You will see some remarkable changes have taken place over that time in the demographics of both parties. Read the paper for yourself. If you google his name, you should find the paper.
Intown
June 28th, 2010
2:58 pm
Jason: It’s more likely my kid will blow his own head off in the basement of some gun-owning friend than it is that some criminal will successfully attack me because I don’t have a gun.
Big D
June 28th, 2010
2:59 pm
Call it like it is, Well said.
songbird
June 28th, 2010
3:03 pm
My point would be that either used improperly can cause death but we require drivers to pass a test but not to buy and use a gun. Why?
Big D
June 28th, 2010
3:04 pm
Songbird, there are more references to the “Democrat” party of Kennedy being overrun by radicals, liberals and leftest than the conversion of “Dixie-Crats” to republicans, that’s an old Liberal ploy to shift blame. Kennedy said” Do not ask what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”.
That just doesn’t fly with you Liberal Dems anymore.
Cars kill more people than guns
June 28th, 2010
3:08 pm
songbird
Explain Robert Byrd.
songbird
June 28th, 2010
3:09 pm
Never said I was a liberal Dem – you are assuming which is why I don’t like the conservatives on this blog. You may far too many assumptions based on your narrow view of who people are. I am definitely more liberal but not irresponsible. I am well educated, have worked for the same company for 25 years, have a six figure income and own a home. So as Benny Hill used to say “when you assume, you make an a$$ out of you and me”.
No guns
June 28th, 2010
3:09 pm
@andygrdzli very nice, I strongly agree with you.
I am in favor of strict gun laws.
You are more likely to use gun on your loved ones out of anger or mistake etc.
Material things could be regain, but not loved ones.
There are other means to Self Defense
Cars kill more people than guns
June 28th, 2010
3:10 pm
songbird
If the GOP is so racist why does your party call Condi, Thomas, Steele and many other black conservatives names like Uncle Tom and Aunt Jamima?
Cars kill more people than guns
June 28th, 2010
3:11 pm
“I am definitely more liberal but not irresponsible.”
That would make you…..liberal.
Cars kill more people than guns
June 28th, 2010
3:12 pm
“You are more likely to use gun on your loved ones out of anger or mistake etc.”
That is a flat out lie. Explain Chicago. Are the thugs and gangs killing their “loved ones” when they gun down innocent kids on the streets?
Cars kill more people than guns
June 28th, 2010
3:12 pm
“There are other means to Self Defense”
Yep, like .357, .45 calibers, shot guns, Glocks, Berretas etc…
giant p
June 28th, 2010
3:13 pm
98% of guntards don’t regulary floss….
Big D
June 28th, 2010
3:14 pm
Songbird, I tried years ago when Roy Barnes was Governor to institute a plan to test all gun applicants that had not received military training by building facilities that create revenue for police. Your drivers license would contain your qualifications( hunting only,carry permit) and would allow the police to confiscate and jail persons who carry illegally. You would also have to present this when you buy a gun or ammunition. This relieves the state of the burden of gun registration, it involves the person only.
songbird
June 28th, 2010
3:14 pm
There’s nothing wrong with being liberal. I’m also self sufficient, i.e., not living off the government and so many conservatives on this blog assume of all liberals.
Cars kill more people than guns
June 28th, 2010
3:17 pm
“There’s nothing wrong with being liberal. ”
You said you weren’t liberal and then you said you were……liberal. Lie much?
“I’m also self sufficient, i.e., not living off the government and so many conservatives on this blog assume of all liberals.”
No one ever said all liberals live off the government. Lots of liberals live off their conservative parents money as well. Others live off their trust funds. Others live off the money they made by suing doctors and insurance companies. IE John Edwards.
Cars kill more people than guns
June 28th, 2010
3:17 pm
Big D
But liberals think that showing an id is racist. Cynthia Tucker said so.
Big D
June 28th, 2010
3:18 pm
You assume I’m a conservative and chastise me for assuming you are a lib, hypocrisy.
I am a conservative and I sound like one, you my dear sound like a Lib. Just a fact.
giant p
June 28th, 2010
3:19 pm
99% of guntards own a tinkerbell night light…
Big D
June 28th, 2010
3:21 pm
GP, 100% of Liberal leftist are retards.
Craig
June 28th, 2010
3:21 pm
Once again, libs are on the wrong side of the issue. And songbird, slavery is not over. The dems are the largest slave owners in the world by making minorities dependent on entightlements. By the way, Roosevelt knew passing the New Deal would make people depend on democrats way back then.
fred
June 28th, 2010
3:22 pm
Nice to see all you conservative bloggers trying to convince yourselves your not racist, priceless.
Cars kill more people than guns
June 28th, 2010
3:25 pm
“Nice to see all you conservative bloggers trying to convince yourselves your not racist, priceless.”
And nice to see that your grand wizard kkk member Robert Byrd has left the building after 50 + years stinking up the senate floor.
songbird
June 28th, 2010
3:25 pm
I don’t live off my parents money or any of the other BS comments you made above. I put myself thru college and grad school. More and more college grads are voting Democratic. Check out the statistics for yourself if you don’t believe me. More working class people are voting Republican now. Like I said before the makeup of both parties are changing and have been changing over the past 20 years.
jconservative
June 28th, 2010
3:26 pm
Irony.
A lot of conservatives, me included, are applauding the McDonald decision. But it has not been that long since a big portion of the conservative movement, me not included, wanted to ditch the 14th Amendment just because of the Courts application of the “due process clause”.
Constitutional law is never as simple as it seems.
What the Court did today was say that the “due process clause” of the 14th Amendment makes the 2nd Amendment applicable to the states. The Court DID NOT say that the 2nd Amendment applied to the states on its on merits.
And yes, that is legislating from the bench. Always has been and always will be. That is what makes it a “living Constitution” even though many “proclaimed conservatives” shutter at the term.
Cars kill more people than guns
June 28th, 2010
3:28 pm
“I don’t live off my parents money or any of the other BS comments you made above.”
Never said you did, songy song song. All I did was give more examples of how libs make money. It’s funny that you got all upset about it.
“More and more college grads are voting Democratic.”
Uh, not for long since they can’t get jobs after graduating.
“Like I said before the makeup of both parties are changing and have been changing over the past 20 years.”
Yep, and in November you’ll see BIG changes in the democrat party.