I tend to agree with Eugene Volokh on this one. The Court did not need to reach the “sensitive place” analysis, because there are other ways it could have been upheld. I’m starting to end up in the Josh Blackman camp, somewhat. I think Heller and McDonald were important decisions in many ways, but only one that will end up protecting our extreme flanks at best. The rest of this is going to remain a political issue. Ultimately, the greater effect these two rulings may be in the minds of the people, rather than in the minds of federal judges.
Word has it that Justice Kennedy was at the memorial service, along with former Justice O’Conner. I fear this could bring gun rights progress in the federal courts to a screeching halt if it’s making someone like Kennedy reconsider his position, or how far he wants to take the right. It’s my impression the Heller and McDonald majorities were very weak, otherwise we could have gotten stronger language from the Court. Did it just get weaker? Time will tell.
Ultimately the Bradys may be right that this only takes the extremes off the table. What they don’t realize is that’s likely fatal for them, and will merely delay our journey to get the Second Amendment treated as seriously as other rights which are part of the American landscape.
I wish my Fourth Amendment rights would be taken seriously. Hell, even those random, drunk-driving checkpoints violate that.
Markie Marxist sez: “Cool! This is a major victory for our would-be Marxist/warrior/hero/criminal/mass murderers! They can shoot all the college students that they can get away with shooting without worrying about them shooting back! Our man Seung-Hui Cho is dancing in his grave! Success! We need dead student bodies for the national body count that drives our gun ban agenda, and it looks like the Virginia Supreme Court has cleared the way for us to get our fill of them! Ha! Ha! All your dead college students are belong to us, regardless of how they felt about gun control when they were alive, because once they’re dead, we own them! Ha! Ha! It’s open season on college students in Virginia! I hope that they budget for extra vehicles for the coroners – it’s best to be prepared – we wouldn’t want the way that this is handled to be an embarrassment to the government. I’m going to have to email my commie compadre Helmke and congratulate him on this victory over common sense, oops, I mean, this victory of common communist sense.â€