That’s Clayton Cramer’s take on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Parker, which Cramer calls “very nearly the perfect decision, for
the following reasons”:
1. Because it struck down key parts of DC’s gun control law, DC governnment either has to appeal it to the Supreme Court, or actually deal with DC’s violent crime problem by going after criminals, instead
of non-criminals. (Hard decision for them, I’m guessing.)
2. Because the decision recognizes that the right is individual in nature, this isn’t a technical win for us, but opens up the door to challenging other federal gun control laws to help determine what are the limits of Congressional and Executive branch authority. For example, if I’m camping in Yellowstone, does the Second Amendment protect my right to have an appropriate grizzly bear discouragement device in mytent? There’s a plausible argument based on this decision that I do.
It is great news.
Orin Kerr links the text of the decision (pdf file) while Eugene Volokh has an interesting analysis of the dissenting view of the majority’s holding (that the Second Amendment being an individual and not a group right) is mere “dicta.”
It will be interesting to see whether the Supreme Court decides to hear the case.
Comments
4 responses to ““This Is HUGE!””
SCOTUS has a long history of disregarding the gun control decisions of lower courts (giving us the odd non-precedent of having multiple conflicting circuit court rulings). Maybe Alito will shake things up there, though.
Has anyone checked to see if grizzlys are deterred by gay porn stars?
I suppose guns are lighter and easier to carry and generally the cost for feeding them is not too significant.
Female porn stars could be a hazard if it is “that time of month”. Grizzlys are attracted by the scent of blood.
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On guns and D.C. – very significant. I’m going to see what Cramer has to say.
It is funny, I was arguing just today with a man who claimed to fear the creeping fascism he senses in America. He mentioned the legally questionable gun control laws in D.C. specifically as one way in which our freedoms are dissapearing. I have to say, it is truly refreshing to have him proven wrong on one issue, and put one in the win column for liberty over creeping statism.
Are grizzlys are deterred by gay porn stars?
Yes, if the latter are armed.