Supreme Court Rules on Hand Gun Decision

Editor's Note: This was an article that I wrote seperate of my 'Range Writer' column and was published in the July 4, 2008, issue of the High Plains View. I have included it because of it's historical significance and because I firmly support the right of the American people to keep and bear arms; both as our heritage and insurance that our rights shall not be taken from us.

By Tim Gibbons
In a landmark decision on June 26, 2008, during the last day of its current term, the United States Supreme Court ruled 5-4 (in District of Columbia v. Heller), that the District of Columbia’s 32-year-old ban on handguns, the Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975, was unconstitutional.
“Logic demands that there be a link between the stated purpose and the command,” wrote Justice Antonin Scalia. “We start therefore with a strong presumption that the Second Amendment right is exercised individually and belongs to all Americans.”
In response to the decision to overturn the Washington D.C. gun ban, the National Rifle Association (NRA) has filed suit against Chicago, San Francisco and their suburbs to overturn similar laws.
"I consider this the opening salvo in a step-by-step process of providing relief for law-abiding Americans everywhere that have been deprived of this freedom," said Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association.
Presidential candidates, John McCain and Barak Obama were quick to release statements on the issue:
“Today’s ruling makes clear that other municipalities like Chicago that have banned handguns have infringed on the Constitutional Rights of Americans,” McCain said. “Unlike the elitist view that believes Americans cling to guns out of bitterness, today’s ruling recognizes that gun ownership is a fundamental right – sacred, just as the right to free speech and assembly.”
Obama stated that, “Today’s ruling, the first clear statement on this issue in 127 years, will provide much-needed guidance to local jurisdictions across the country.”
He added that, “if we act responsibly, we can both protect the constitutional right to bear arms and keep our communities and our children safe.”
Dick Heller, one of the six District of Columbia residents to file suit against the gun ban stated, “It’s going to relieve a lot of people’s worries and doubts. I’ve always supported the right to bear arms and as long as people do that in a responsible way, there’s nothing wrong with them.”
The decision doesn’t overturn laws that prevent the sale of guns to felons or mentally ill individuals. Nor does it do away with bans on concealed weapons, machine guns or the requirement to register guns.
In the 157 page report written by the Supreme Court majority on the decision, it was stated that:
"In sum, we hold that the District's ban on handgun possession in the home violates the Second Amendment, as does its prohibition against rendering any lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense”
The opinion also stated: “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 [Second] Amendment or state analogues. The court’s opinion should not be taken to cast doubt on long-standing 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.”
It was noted in the opinion by Justice Scalia that the Second Amendment, like the First Amendment, is not an unlimited right. But it does give the citizens of America the right to bear arms in recreational pursuits or self defense.