Good day for individual rights.
June 26, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) delivered their landmark decision on D.C. v. Heller. This was the case regarding whether the Second Amendment was an INDIVIDUAL right and if Washington, D.C.’s outright ban on handguns was constitutional. The high court said what any reasonable, rational person already knew, which is that it is an INDIVIDUAL right, and D.C. couldn’t do that.
The amendment says “the right of the people to keep (possess) and bear (carry) arms shall not be infringed.” It’s not like this is an ambiguous term, and it seems very clear to me.
That’s why I guaranteed you in my column months ago when I first heard that SCOTUS was going to hear this case that they would absolutely, positively rule that way. So this is my opportunity to say, “I told you so.”
I do wish they would have handed down a much broader definition of that right, because now there will be litigation for years to come defining what it means for individual gun ownership in the United States.
That litigation started just 15 minutes after the decision came down, when lawsuits were filed against Chicago and its suburbs, and San Francisco, and other communities that have gun restrictions much like those in Washington, D.C.
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley (D) angrily decried the decision as “scary” and vowed to fight any attempt to repeal the Chicago gun ban. He said residents of Chicago aren’t responsible enough to have guns because “they have drug problems, they have alcohol problems.” He also threatened to raise taxes for extra police security if the handgun ban is overturned.
Apparently, Daley feels his constituency is responsible enough to elect him, but not responsible enough to exercise their constitutional right to own a gun so they can protect themselves and their families.
Aside from being unconstitutional, Washington, D.C., and Chicago have proven these handgun bans do no good because even though handguns have been illegal there for decades, they have some of the highest crime rates in the country.
Of course, Daley’s puppet Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich (D), echoed his opinion and called the court’s finding “a bad decision.”
The court’s ruling went on to say “the right secured in the Second Amendment is NOT UNLIMITED,” so ANYBODY does not have a right to own ANY gun, ANY place, under ANY circumstances.
I got an e-mail the other day from an anti-gun nut who sarcastically said that because of this decision, I should now be calling for the right of any wacko to own grenades, rocket launchers, surface-to-air missiles and torpedoes. That’s ridiculous, of course, and it ain’t ever gonna happen because the court ruled the decision does not protect “those weapons not typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes.”
Since handguns are THE most typical weapon for self-protection and home defense, the Chicago handgun ban hasn’t got a leg to stand on. It may take years of legal battles, but that ban is clearly unconstitutional, and eventually will be reversed.
The high court’s decision also made clear that reasonable gun restrictions prohibiting felons, minors and the mentally ill from owning guns are justified, so Daley need not worry about them shooting up Chi-town with legally-owned firearms.
This decision made for a great day for not only gun rights supporters but for all individual rights champions. Nobody should fear law-abiding citizens exercising their constitutional rights. Better you should fear the politician who fears your guns.
Lawful gun ownership will not make the public any less safe, and will, in fact, reduce crime. What scares me is how close this 5-4 decision was and the recent 5-4 decisions giving prisoners of war the same rights as United States citizens and not upholding the death penalty for child rapists.
Being soft on criminals and terrorists will definitely not make us safer. That is why appointing the right people to the judiciary is so important. These liberal activist justices’ job is not to arbitrarily change the law to set policy. It is their job to interpret and enforce the constitution as it is written, and they take an oath to do that when they are appointed.
The legislative and administrative branches of government set policy in accordance with the wishes of the people who elect them. That’s why we have a government “of the people, by the people, for the people.”
If people don’t like an amendment to the Constitution, the way to change it is to have it repealed. But I guarantee you that ain’t ever gonna happen with the Second Amendment. You can be sure the anti-gun crowd will continue to fight tooth and nail every way they can to restrict our right to keep and bear arms. So this SCOTUS decision is merely the opening round of the very long battle to come.
As they say, freedom (and freedoms) aren’t free so, it is up to individual rights champions everywhere to stay vigilant against these restrictions of our constitutional rights.
Individual liberty (including the individual right to keep and bear arms) is what sets the United States of America apart and makes us the beacon of light for the rest of the world. We may sometimes get a bad rap in the world court of public opinion, but remember this: we are still one of the few countries in the world where people are fighting to get IN and not struggling to get OUT.
Hope everybody had a great Independence Day, and God bless America.
Eric R. Sonnenberg is a Federal Firearms Licensed gun dealer who owns Forest City Firearms, 137 N. Chicago Ave., Rockford or online at www.forestcityfirearms.com. He can be reached at (815) 262-4279 or via e-mail to forestcityfirearms@comcast.net.
from the July 9-15, 2008, issue