Category: 2nd Amendment

Here’s some limitations prsented from the opinion:

Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited.  It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose: For example, concealed weapons prohibitions have been upheld under the Amendment or state analogues. The Court’s opinion should not be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms. Miller’s holding that the sorts of weapons protected are those “in common use at the time” finds support in the historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of dangerous and unusual weapons.

Interesting.  Perhaps The Court will be willing to entertain open carry being constitutionally protected, while concealed carry remains something that may be licensed by the state.  But can it be outright prohibited?   Doesn’t seem to get into that.

The Supreme Court has ruled in the case of DC vs. Heller that DC’s ordinances are a violation of the Second Amendment.  This is a momentous occasion.  Let the celebrations begin.

While we may not follow our constitution to the letter, at the very least, the Bill of Rights means something, no matter how much the gun haters wish it didn’t.

Long Live the Bill of Rights! Long live the Second Amendment, the individual right of Americans to keep and bear arms.  The Brady Campaign, VPC, CeaseFire PA, and others, can get down and kiss our collective asses for ever trying to con Americans into believing it was only a collective right.

Mr. Gura, Mr. Levy, and many others who’s life’s work brought this to fruition, we don’t just owe you a drink, we owe you a whole damned liquor store.

Unless Chief Justice Roberts is pulling our leg, today will be the day.  Stay tuned for details.  Don’t bite your nails down too far.

UPDATE: The Court will begin releasing opinions at 10.  In the mean time, Scotusblog has some interesting polls on their live blog coverage here.

UPDATE: This will be a momentous day for gun owners, no matter what the decision.  From here on out, things will be different.  This is the biggest day for those who care about the second amendment, probably ever.

UPDATE: The Court releases cases apparently according to seniority, so we’ll be dead last is Scalia is indeed the writer the Heller opinion.

UPDATE: I’m as giddy as a school girl.

UPDATE: Squirming in my seat here.

UPDATE: The case of Heller v. District of Columbia is AFFIRMED!

UPDATE: Scalia wrote the majority opinion.  Ginsburg, Stevens, Souter and Breyer dissented.  This case fell along ideological grounds, with the liberals dissenting.

UPDATE: Apparently there are two dissenting opinions.  This is a 5-4 ruling.  Closer than I would have liked, but a win, nontheless.

UPDATE: I will get the opinion, and read it, and give you my take as soon as I have time.

Clearly this person is an expert in constitutional law, all the modern scholarship that provides powerful evidence that he’s wrong be damned.  I should also note that Justice Scalia has to get four other justices to agree with him in order for his opinion to be the majority opinion.  Dave Hardy, who is a real expert in these matters, talks about possible methods of interpretation in Heller here.

Bryan Miller shares his thoughts on Heller:

Know what? I’d consider [a ruling favoring Heller] a victory for public safety, for common sense and for the gun violence prevention community. Why? It would remove the debate about guns and gun violence from the static and useless 2nd amendment arena and put it squarely in the ‘reasonableness’ arena, unencumbered by the 2nd amendment argument that the gun industy and lobby and chicken-hearted legislators and pols hide behind. I’m totally comfortable placing debates and decisions about gun legislation and laws in that arena, where the issue of public safety will be supreme.

I hate to break it to Bryan, but this isn’t going to end the debate.  It’s just going to alter it, and whether he wants to admit it or not, this shifts the debate considerably in our favor.  Yes, the gun issue will end up settling in an area where neither side is entirely happy, but if the second amendment is treated as an individual right, it going to be the gun control movement that’s most unhappy.  Most rights are not subject to a “reasonableness” test, but to strict scrutiny, and even if The Court adopts an intermediate level of scrutiny, the burden is still on gun control advocates, not those of us who claim our liberty.

As has been stated before, if prohibition is off the table, there’s a good chance many of the supporters in the gun control movement, who hate guns and want to see them banned outright, are going to give up on the issue.

Again, we play the waiting game.

UPDATE: The Court is releasing opinions.

UPDATE: The Court just vacated the punative damages in the Exxon Valdez incident. “In Exxon, the judgment is vacated and remanded.   The Court divided depending on the issues.   The Court divided equally on whether maritime law permits punitives for the acts of agents (Alito not participating).   The Court deemed the punitives excessive based on maritime common law, holding the punitives should be equal to the compensatories.”

UPDATE: Kennedy v. Louisiana, the Court reversed and remanded a low courts upholding the death penalty for child rape. “The Kennedy v. LA decision holds that the death penalty for child rape is unconstitutional if the defendants’ acts were not intended to cause death.”

UPDATE: Interesting cases today, but I want Heller, dammit!

UPDATE: At least one more decision is coming.

UPDATE: Last opinion coming now.

UPDATE: Last case involved tribal law.  Damned Indians!  This must be revenge for us stealing their land.   No Heller today.

This is all just speculation, but interesting.  First from Dave Hardy, who says that it’s good news if Scalia writes the opinion, as appears likley.  Second is from Bitter, and third the Volokh Conspiracy, here and here.

Smart people have said today is going to be the day.  I’m going to be a contrarian and suggest that they will put it off until later in the week.  Stay tuned for updates as The Court starts releasing opinions.

UPDATE: Not today folks.  Chief Justice Roberts, you are such a tease.  From SCOTUSBlog: “The only opinion remaining from the March sitting is Heller.   The only Justice without a majority opinion from that sitting is Justice Scalia.”

There’s a good chance it could be today.  Stay tuned for details.

UPDATE: The Court will begin announcing opinions at 10AM today.  This is the next to the last day in the session when opinions will be announced.  Monday the 23rd will be the last day.

UPDATE: The court has begun to release opinions.  One announced so far, and is not Heller.

UPDATE: Bitter hopes it’s released Monday, so she has time to work on something she’s doing related to Heller.  I’m hoping for today, because I have a meeting on Monday at the time the Supreme Court is releasing decisions.

UPDATE: Three opinions so far.  No Heller.

UPDATE: Not today.  Sorry folks.

UPDATE: There’s Monday, but also the possibility of Wednesday or Tuesday of next week.