November 23, 2007
Brace Yourselves
The headline jumped out at me.....
I had to read on.....
"The Supreme Court has agreed to take up a case that will affect millions of Americans and could also have an impact on the 2008 elections. That case, Parker v. D.C., should settle the decades-old argument whether the right "to keep and bear arms" of the Constitution's Second Amendment is an individual right -- that all Americans enjoy -- or only a collective right that states may regulate freely."
Great. Just what we need, with all the other Politics flyin' around right now, the country already divided in half.....
But then I got to thinking....it is TIME to settle this. Past Time. But ohhhh how I know my blood pressure will be out of control as I read all the crap about how guns are bad, hence making people bad.
"Legal, historical and even empirical reasons all command a decision that recognizes the Second Amendment guarantee as an individual right."
What? Did he just agree with me......
"The rights guaranteed in the Bill of Right are individual."
That's right. At least in my mind, the Bill of Rights are about INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS! Huh....
"This comports with my own personal experience. In almost 14 years as prosecutor and as head of the Homicide Unit of the Wayne County (Detroit) Prosecutor's Office, I never saw anyone charged with murder who had a license to legally carry a concealed weapon. Most people who want to possess guns are law-abiding and present no threat to others. Rather than the availability of weapons, my experience is that gun violence is driven by culture, police presence (or lack of same), and failures in the supervision of parolees and probationers.
Not only does history demonstrate that the Second Amendment is an individual right, but experience demonstrates that the broad ban on gun ownership in the District of Columbia has led to precisely the opposite effect from what was intended. For legal and historical reasons, and for the safety of the residents of our nation's capital, the Supreme Court should affirm an individual right to keep and bear arms."
Read the whole article. And then brace yourself for a fight. It's gonna get ugly(er) folks.
I know the only reason I don't own a gun right now is because it's too damned much work to jump through all the hoops (not to mention expense) here in Illinois. But I believe to my very core that it IS my RIGHT. And I will not hesitate to make that known.
Yeah, there's a battle a brewin'.....and we're going to HAVE to make sure our voices are heard. Other wise........well, other wise we're just giving our rights away.
Posted by Tammi at November 23, 2007 07:13 AM | TrackBackGreat post. I would rather have SCOTUS keep their robes out of this issue. So many great things are happening at the local level (lawsuits thrown out, Castle Doctrine, concealed carry). Good solid grassroots precedents.
I can only imagine what tortured, convoluted language the genies in black will come up with!
I haven't blogged about this yet because I've been waiting for the verdict. Unfortunately I'm sitting here scared to death of what they will rule. Living in the anti-gun nanny state of Illinois, if SCOTUS rules that it is an individual right that can't be taken away by local levels, YAY! If however they say that it can be, we're screwed.
Posted by: Contagion at November 23, 2007 09:57 AMI'm holding my breath, for all the reasons stated.
The phrase "cold, dead hands" comes to mind.
I don't know. I think there is a more than even chance that it will go our way. And if it does not, I bet you that Scalia and/or Thomas will write some immortal prose, and then the battle will really get going. The disarmers will wish they had never started it.
Remember, the Dred Scott decision affirmed the right of slave-owners to own slaves.
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