V-I-C-T-O-R-Y

Monday 28 June 2010 - Filed under Firearms + SCOTUS

Justice Alito via his majority opinion in todays McDonald v City of Chicago decision incorporating the 2nd Amendment as a fundamental right not to be trampled [PDF] by states and localities:

Two years ago, in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U. S. ___ (2008), we held that the Second Amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self-defense, and we struck down a District of Columbia law that banned the possession of handguns in the home. The city of Chicago (City) and the village of Oak Park, a Chicago suburb, have laws that are similar to the District of Columbia’s, but Chicago and Oak Park argue that their laws are constitutional because the Second Amendment has no application to the States. We have previously held that most of the provisions of the Bill of Rights apply with full force to both the Federal Government and the States. Applying the standard that is well established in our case law, we hold that the Second Amendment right is fully applicable to the States.

It’s nice to know that though we live in trying times, there are moments of clarity which highlight our fundamental right to petition the government for redress of grievances guaranteed by the 1st amendment. The state, in bad faith, enacted a law banning handguns for home protection; a man grieved set about a legally prescribed series of events which ultimately led to the redress of those grievances in today’s decision. The system still does occasionally work and that’s a good sign.  A sign that though we are sometimes subject to being wronged by government, we are not yet at the point where we may need to rely on the 2nd amendment to actively protect the freedoms guaranteed to us by the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

More quotes from today’s epic decision to come.

2010-06-28  »  madlibertarianguy