HooooRaaaaayyy for Gun Rights!
by JBEZL
Jun. 26, 2008 09:51

From the AP Article:

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense and hunting, the justices' first major pronouncement on gun rights 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 laws intact.

[...]

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.

Let me say "HooRayy!" once more time.

What is silly is that the ruling went down to a close 5-4 decision on such an obvious and clear-cut issue of whether a citizen has a right to possess a firearm in his home for "immediate self-defense."

Now this part of the ruling (from the Supreme Court Blog) makes perfect sense to me.

What Congress did in drafting the [Second] Amendment, the Court said, was "to codify a pre-existing right, rather than to fashion a new one."

Edited Jun. 27, 2008 23:45