Supreme Court Ruling On Handguns Wrongheaded
It was a long awaited Supreme Court decision by those who correctly see the need for restrictions on handguns in our nation, and those who somehow have come to feel that unfettered access to handguns is a right. With the ruling this morning from a highly divided court the opinion read that individuals have the right to own guns for self-defense and hunting. There is now for the first time a clear ruling on the matter. But the debate will not stop.
The fact is there must be more stringent regulation of guns when the statistics of deaths from handguns are looked at. The long history of guns in America, and the interwoven love affair that many have with these weapons is frankly a very weird and complex one. I fully understand the difficult lay of the land on this matter as a more enlightened approach to gun ownership is sought.
CNN put the case in perspective.
The Second Amendment says, “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
The wording repeatedly has raised the question of whether gun ownership is an individual right, or a collective one pertaining to state militias and therefore subject to regulation.
The Supreme Court has avoided the question since the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791. The high court last examined the issue in 1939 but stayed away from the broad constitutional question.
I find the slaughter from handguns that we all read about in the paper each week so senseless. Most painful are the weekly stories of sadness that result from guns because the owners of the weapons are clearly not responsible enough to have them. Bottom line is there are just too many handguns in America.
A 3-year-old Joliet boy died Wednesday afternoon after a loaded handgun he was playing with went off in his home on the city’s east side.
The child, Julius Rogers, apparently was alone in the living room playing with a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun around 12:40 p.m. when it fired a round that hit him in the head, said Joliet Police Chief Fred Hayes.
Technorati Tags: SupremeCourt, Handguns, Law, Guns, GunControl
the idiot who let a 3 year old play with a loaded gun needs to be punished to the fullest extent of the law! will it be a liberal judge(probation) or a conservative judge (death penalty)
I hope it is the latter
All of the blunders of GW administration, his appointment of Supreme Court justices who put the interest of America first instead of ideology is something that all of America can be proud of. The 2nd Amendment has been under attack for a long time by people who use the Constitution as if it was written for just a select few instead of all citizens.
With Mr McCain soon to become our next president, and a couple of the far left judges soon to retire, hopefully real soon, the court will become a strong court that will defend America and her people from the tyrants of the extreme left, whose goal is to bring America to her kness in a godless secular society.
The only thing the Supreme Court did yesterday was say that if you NOT a convicted felon or a head case or an illegal alien and you want a gun to defend yourself and your family then you should be able to have one. They did not say everyone and their mama can get 52 AK-47 Rifles at the Church Gun Sale.
Now, riddle me this Batman:
What is one of the first things Hitler, Castro and the Yahoo who rules Venezuela right now do when they seized power? Answer: They seized everyone’s guns.
Personally I have never heard or read of a handgun killing anyone but I do read about people killing people all the time. A gun is an inanimate object it takes a hand to wield it. The bottom line is there are too many STUPID people in America and unfortunately stupidity is incurable.
This country does need nationwide stiff handgun control. In countries where stiffer laws are strictly enforced gun deaths are much lower though not extinct. I do not enjoy reading the fact there were 37 people shot, seven of which died, over an April weekend in Chicago or there are children involved in accidental or intentional death by guns. Unfortunately for the children involved in gun accidents their parents are obviously lacking in the IQ and common sense department.
However I am more disgusted by the continued perversion of our Constitution. At one point in time our President was elected by the popular vote not an electoral college system. The Vice President was elected the same way. They did not run as a team and were not permitted to be from the same state. And this is in the main body of the Constitution it’s not even an amendment. I could go on but I think ya get the point. I have no problem with stiffer regulation but some people, like with everything else, want to take it too far and completely ban guns.
I have a question for those who oppose anyone owning a gun. We have a serious problem, a shrinking middle class tax base and with taxes being what pays your law enforcement officials this is a problem. The poor cannot shoulder the burden and the wealthy, well we all know the tax tables and laws, are not going to foot the bill. We already have a shortage of police officers in many cities and smaller towns are forced to share cops or rely on State Troopers. So… exactly how long are you willing to wait for help to arrive after you’ve stealthily called 911 on your GPS loaded cell phone? Quite frankly you’d be better off calling your neighbor, though you may be diametrical opposites in every possible way, he has a gun and knows how to use it.
There are intelligent people who sell, own and collect guns. They handle their business correctly and should not be punished due to morons and oops almost forgot just plain murderers. What comes next outlawing knives because stabbing deaths are on the rise because the perpetrator can’t get their hands on a gun? Being facetious here folks so chill, although death by stabbing is on the rise. Then what? Mandating everyone eat diet food because our nation’s rear end size is ever broadening, we can’t fit through the door and will have a heart attack? At least gun death is quick most of the time – death by Ho-Ho’s is long and arduous.
There is a middle ground and we have to find it, I do not want guns completely outlawed as some extremists do but I do want a uniform code enforced.
Message to the extremists – you cannot mandate everything contrary to popular belief and myth.
Deke and Sean: you both kind of skirt the issue here, which is not “what would be the best policy,” but rather, “what does the text of the Second Amendment mean”?
Maybe the legal fight to keep this country from being overrun by gun deaths will need to be accompanied by a massive shaming campaign targeting manufacturers and sellers. Our country tolerates a level of shooting deaths that no other developed country in the world comes close to approaching on either an absolute or per-capita level. We are less safe as a result. It is a national disgrace.
It’s scary to imagine Sean with a gun.
thank god the second amendment has been upheld.it has been PROVEN over and over again that when you take guns out of the hands of law obiding citizens,gun violence goes UP. kennasaw ga. has actually mandated that all residents of that city must own a firearm and the crime level there is virtually non-existent.we need more s.c. justices like john roberts and fewer like ruth bader liberalsberg!