2nd Amendment Ruling

Today, the Supreme Court ruled that the 2nd amendment guarantees individual Americans the right to bear arms, but also that this right is “not unlimited.”

Held:
1. The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.

…

2. 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.

This means:

• You legally have the right to carry a gun.
• Some “longstanding prohibitions” are legal, such as prohibitions on possession by “felons and the mentally ill” and school gun bans.
• Automatic weapons or “dangerous and unusual weapons” are still going to be banned.
• More guns on the streets.

My take on this all is that it’s a step in the wrong direction. Though it’s not an “unlimited right” to carry guns, it allows for gun restrictions and gun bans in major cities like Chicago and D.C. to be challenged and overturned based on their constitutionality. Though Obama appears okay with the ruling:

“I have always believed that the Second Amendment protects the right of individuals to bear arms, but I also identify with the need for crime-ravaged communities to save their children from the violence that plagues our streets through common-sense, effective safety measures.”

and McCain supports it fully (ugh):

“I applaud this decision as well as the overturning of the District of Columbia’s ban on handguns… 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.”

the mayor of Chicago said this, in response to the ruling:

“Why don’t we do away with the court system and go back to the Old West? You have a gun and I have a gun and we’ll settle in the streets.”