No bull zone: It’s about time: Supreme Court to hear Second Amendment case
FINALLY!!! After almost 70 years, the United States Supreme Court has finally agreed to hear a Second Amendment case. The last case the court considered on this subject was in 1939.
This case concerns the Washington, D.C., law that bans handguns, which was ruled unconstitutional by the Appellate Court. The Appellate Court nullified the District of Columbia ban on handgun registrations to allow citizens to keep functional handguns.
In writing the majority opinion, Senior Appellate Judge Lawrence H. Silberman states, "The Amendment does not protect 'the right of militiamen to keep and bear arms' but rather 'the right of the people.'"
Judge Silberman properly concluded what gun rights scholars have been saying for years: "The Second Amendment is not some mythical 'collective right,' but an individual civil right equal to rights guaranteed to individual citizens under the First, Fourth, Ninth, and 10th amendments."
Judge Silberman did his research and reached the only logical conclusion one could have about the meaning of the Second Amendment. The ruling strikes a mortal blow to decades of judicial activism based on erroneous interpretation and deliberate misrepresentation of a 1939 Supreme Court decision, and returns the Second Amendment to its historically accurate place in the Bill of Rights.
The Supreme Court will hear the case in March 2008, and should have a ruling by June. I am so looking forward to this ruling because it should prevent gun-grabbing politicians like mayors Richard Daley and Michael Bloomberg from denying people the right to protect themselves in Chicago and New York City, and other locations.
The reason I am so confident is because the United States Supreme Court, especially THIS Supreme Court, is NEVER going to rule that the right to keep and bear arms is not an INDIVIDUAL right. That should also mean that Illinois and Wisconsin will no longer be the only two states in the union to ban concealed carry.
2008 should be a banner year for gun owners and defenders of individual freedom everywhere, but especially here in Winnebago County, where, once again, we have the highest crime rate in the state.
Local bad guys take note: come next year, you will have no guarantee your potential victims will be defenseless. You will no longer be certain the pizza delivery man or ice cream cart vendor can't protect himself.
Kudos to Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey (I) for dismissing a suggestion for another local gun buy-back program. He is correct when he concludes these buy-back programs do nothing to reduce crime. That’s because it’s obvious the criminals aren’t the ones who would be turning in their guns. If anybody out there does want to get rid of any of their firearms, give me a call. As an FFL (Federal Firearms Licensed) dealer, I can only offer you wholesale value on your guns, but that is likely to be a lot more than the $25-$50 you would get from a buy-back program.
Thanks to everybody who stopped by the Pine Tree Pistol Club Gun Show at Forest Hills Lodge Nov. 11. The show was a tremendous success, and I got a lot of positive comments regarding my Rock River Times columns, and I want you to know I appreciate your support. I was dissappointed Gary Haynes didn’t stop by despite my personal invitation. Had he attended, he would have seen that proper ID, including a valid FOID (Firearm Owners Identification) card, was required to even touch a gun, let alone buy one. For those who did buy a gun, the same NICS (National Instant Criminal Background Check System) was done the same way, with the same waiting period as it would have been if you bought a gun through my shop.
Congradulations to local deer hunters on their record-breaking season. A record number of hunters harvested a record number of deer. That should help show the local gun-grabbers that we have strong support for the Second Amendment here in northern Illinois and Winnebago County. Our support is not only strong, but we are well organized, and it would be wise for the local and state politicians to remember that.
I would like to wish everybody a safe and happy holiday season.
Eric R. Sonnenberg is a Federal Firearms Licensed gun dealer who owns Forest City Firearms, 137 N. Chicago Ave., Rockford. He can be reached at (815) 262-4279 or via e-mail to forestcityfirearms@comcast.net.
from the Dec. 5-11, 2007, issue