Supreme Court rules that all Americans have fundamental right to bear arms
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Re: Supreme Court rules that all Americans have fundamental right to bear arms
#2NYT now also has an article about this:
Re: Supreme Court rules that all Americans have fundamental right to bear arms
#3NO "cities have laws as restrictive as those in Chicago [and one of its suburban towns] and Washington [, D.C.]", which have/had full, absolute and total bans on handgun possession by ordinary citizens (maybe with some grandfathering). Therefore the immediate and direct result will be limited (although it should be noted that 3 other Chicago suburbs including the infamous Morton Grove dropped their bans rather than fight (Chicago offered to pay the legal costs of the one remaining suburb)).
As it is, some lower courts have already been writing decisions assuming Heller would be incorporated and there are two cases in California have been on hold while waiting for this decision.
WRT Breyer's dissent WRT "democratic decision-making", Alito slammed him pretty hard:
"First, we have never held that a provision of the Bill of Rights applies to the States only if there is a “popular consensus” that the right is fundamental, and we see no basis for such a rule. But in this case, as it turns out, there is evidence of such a consensus. An amicus brief submitted by 58 Members of the Senate and 251 Members of the House of Representatives urges us to hold that the right to keep and bear arms is fundamental.
[...]
Third, JUSTICE BREYER is correct that incorporation of the Second Amendment right will to some extent limit the legislative freedom of the States, but this is always true when a Bill of Rights provision is incorporated. Incorporation always restricts experimentation and local variations, but that has not stopped the Court from incorporating virtually every other provision of the Bill of Rights."
Re: Supreme Court rules that all Americans have fundamental right to bear arms
#4I wonder how this will effect the provisions of the Brady bill such as background checks, waiting periods, bans on felons buying weapons, etc. I'm all for gun rights but these seem like common sense restrictions. If it invalidates these provisions an escaped convict could walk into a gun store and buy guns. A guy with a bunch of priors for beating his wife can walk in a buy a gun. By the strictest sense of the law it probably raises doubts on age limitations too. Why can't a 10 year old buy a gun? The second amendment doesn't set any restrictions.
Re: Supreme Court rules that all Americans have fundamental right to bear arms
#5I'm not sure science has progressed to the point where we can successfully graft bear arms onto the human body, but it's nice to see the Supreme Court thinking ahead.
Re: Supreme Court rules that all Americans have fundamental right to bear arms
#6I'm not sure science has progressed to the point where we can successfully graft bear arms onto the human body, but it's nice to see the Supreme Court thinking ahead.
Oh come on, upvote this man for the awesome reference!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCgCceg042w
Re: Supreme Court rules that all Americans have fundamental right to bear arms
#7I wonder how this will effect the provisions of the Brady bill such as background checks, waiting periods, bans on felons buying weapons, etc. I'm all for gun rights but these seem like common sense restrictions. If it invalidates these provisions an escaped convict could walk into a gun store and buy guns. A guy with a bunch of priors for beating his wife can walk in a buy a gun. By the strictest sense of the law it…
It wont.
This ruling (as I understand it) mainly has the effect of incorporating[1] the 2nd amendment onto state and local governments, and doesn't deal much with with actual interpretations of the amendment itself.
In fact according to the article
Alito said government can restrict gun ownership in certain instances but did not elaborate on what those would be. That will be determined in future litigation.
Alito said the court had made clear in its 2008 decision that it was not casting doubt on such long-standing measures as keeping felons and the mentally ill from possessing guns or keeping guns out of "sensitive places" such as schools and government buildings.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorporation_of_the_Bill_of_Ri...
(Edited for formatting)
Re: Supreme Court rules that all Americans have fundamental right to bear arms
#8I wonder how this will effect the provisions of the Brady bill such as background checks, waiting periods, bans on felons buying weapons, etc. I'm all for gun rights but these seem like common sense restrictions. If it invalidates these provisions an escaped convict could walk into a gun store and buy guns. A guy with a bunch of priors for beating his wife can walk in a buy a gun. By the strictest sense of the law it…
Heller explicitly allows for such restrictions (without clarifying the boundaries), and this decision follows suit. It's still allowed by the court for State and Local ordinance to keep arms away from felons, the mentally ill, etc.
But I wonder what this will do to the overly-restrictive regulations of, e.g., NJ and CA. While NJ nominally provides for concealed-carry permits, in practice it's impossible to obtain one unless you're politically connected. Also, they routinely violate their own rules that guarantee that purchase permits be issued or denied within 30 days.
Re: Supreme Court rules that all Americans have fundamental right to bear arms
#9I wonder how this will effect the provisions of the Brady bill such as background checks, waiting periods, bans on felons buying weapons, etc. I'm all for gun rights but these seem like common sense restrictions. If it invalidates these provisions an escaped convict could walk into a gun store and buy guns. A guy with a bunch of priors for beating his wife can walk in a buy a gun. By the strictest sense of the law it…
It wont. This ruling (as I understand it) mainly has the effect of incorporating[1] the 2nd amendment onto state and local governments, and doesn't deal much with with actual interpretations of the amendment itself. In fact according to the article Alito said government can restrict gun ownership in certain instances but did not elaborate on what those would be. That will be determined in future litigation. Alito sai…
Yea but the anti-gunners say that a whole lot of new cases will inundate our courts for the next 10 years...as if that's a bad thing. California passed AB 962 which bans ordering ammunition online, and requires a thumb print and ID when purchasing ammo in person. I hope that gets fought.
Re: Supreme Court rules that all Americans have fundamental right to bear arms
#10i dunno, i thought i would share this:
http://current.com/shows/vanguard/89716716_fully-automatic-a...