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BigBadBrian
06-28-2010, 01:26 PM
Link (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/28/AR2010062802134_pf.html)
Supreme Court rules that all Americans have fundamental right to bear arms

By Robert Barnes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 28, 2010; 1:11 PM



The Supreme Court ruled for the first time Monday that the Second Amendment provides all Americans a fundamental right to bear arms, a long-sought victory for gun rights advocates who have chafed at federal, state and local efforts to restrict gun ownership.

The court was considering a restrictive handgun law in Chicago and one of its suburbs that was similar to the District law that it ruled against in 2008. The 5 to 4 decision does not strike any other gun control measures currently in place, but it provides a legal basis for challenges across the country where gun owners think that government has been too restrictive.

"It is clear that the Framers . . . counted the right to keep and bear arms among those fundamental rights necessary to our system of ordered liberty," Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote for the conservatives on the court.

The victory might be more symbolic than substantive, at least initially. Few cities have laws as restrictive as those in Chicago and Washington.

Alito said government can restrict gun ownership in certain instances but did not elaborate on what those would be. That will be determined in future litigation.

Alito said the court had made clear in its 2008 decision that it was not casting doubt on such long-standing measures as keeping felons and the mentally ill from possessing guns or keeping guns out of "sensitive places" such as schools and government buildings.

"We repeat those assurances here," Alito wrote. "Despite municipal respondents' doomsday proclamations, [the decision] does not imperil every law regulating firearms."

The decision came on the final day of the term and at a time of great change for the court. Justice John Paul Stevens sat at the mahogany bench for the last time, and will end more than 34 years on the court when his retirement becomes official Tuesday. Confirmation hearings for Solicitor General Elena Kagan, President Obama's choice to replace Stevens, were scheduled to begin Monday afternoon.

And Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 77, was with the court despite the death of her husband of 56 years, Martin D. Ginsburg, on Sunday.

Besides the decision in McDonald v. Chicago, the court completed its work by issuing opinions in its final cases of the term:

-- It ruled that the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, an independent board set up by the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the aftermath of the huge corporate failures of Enron, WorldCom and others, is unconstitutional. The board was designed to provide much tougher regulation of the auditing of public companies than under previous regimes, but the court said that because it was insulated from direct control of the president, it violated the separation of powers.

It also said, however, that the problem could be corrected by allowing the Securities and Exchange Commission, which oversees the board and is more accountable to the president, to remove the board's members at will.

The case is Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

-- By a vote of 5 to 4, the justices said that a public university does not have to recognize a student religious group that wants to exclude gays and others who share its core beliefs. The University of California's Hastings College of the Law said its anti-discrimination policy required officially recognized student groups to include all who wanted to join. The Christian Legal Society argued that being forced to include those who did not share its beliefs violated constitutional protections of freedom of association and exercise of religion.

The majority included the court's liberal wing plus Justice Anthony M. Kennedy.

The case is Christian Legal Society v. Martinez.

-- The court rejected a claim from inventors who wanted to have their business method patented. A majority of the court said such a claim would be possible in some cases, but not in this one, where a patent was sought for a strategy for hedging risk in buying energy.

The case is Bilski v. Kappos.

The guns case was the logical sequel to the court's 5 to 4 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller. That decision established for the first time that the Second Amendment's "right to keep and bear arms" referred to an individual right, not one related to military service. But the decision that there is a right to keep a gun in one's home did not extend beyond the federal government and its enclaves such as Washington.

Gun rights activists immediately filed suit against the handgun restrictions in Chicago and the suburb of Oak Park.

"Today marks a great moment in American history," said Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, in a statement. "This is a landmark decision. It is a vindication for the great majority of American citizens who have always believed the Second Amendment was an individual right and freedom worth defending."

The court's decision means that the enigmatically worded Second Amendment -- "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" -- identifies an individual right to gun ownership, like the freedom of speech, that cannot be unduly restricted by Congress, state laws or city ordinances.

Also voting in the majority were Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy and Clarence Thomas.

Justice Stephen G. Breyer objected to the majority decision, and read his dissent from the bench. He disagreed with the majority that it is a fundamental right, and said the court was restricting state and local efforts from designing gun control laws that fit their particular circumstances, and turning over all decisions to federal judges. Joining him with dissenting votes were John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor. Stevens wrote his own dissent and did not join Breyer's.

"Given the empirical and local value-laden nature of the questions that lie at the heart of the issue, why, in a nation whose constitution foresees democratic decision-making, is it so fundamental a matter as to require taking that power from the people?" Breyer wrote. "What is it here that the people did not know? What is it that a judge knows better?"

Jagermeister
06-28-2010, 01:34 PM
:baaa: I never had a doubt but it's nice to see a court back it up.

ELVIS
06-28-2010, 01:45 PM
Sounds like a set-up...

Hide yer gunz!


:elvis:

Hardrock69
06-28-2010, 01:54 PM
Right on! The 2nd Amendment was put there for a purpose.

To prevent tyrannical dictatorship.

Nitro Express
06-28-2010, 04:23 PM
Right on! The 2nd Amendment was put there for a purpose.

To prevent tyrannical dictatorship.

Bingo! The last resort went the ballot box no longer works. The government used to make excellent shooting ranges available but those are disapearing. The US Forrest Service used to have an excellent 1000 yard rifle range here. The purpose was so hunters could sight their rifles in for hunting season.

Nitro Express
06-28-2010, 04:30 PM
The first time I ever shot a gun was at Boy Scout camp. They had 22 target rifles and I was a natural. I got the best score out of the camp. When I went to the national scout jamboree I got the best score there as well. I have a room full of marksmanship trophies. I let it slip because I couldn't find a 1000 yard range to practice at. I actually built my own rifle using a Mauser 98 receiver, a Douglas barrel, a Timney trigger and a Zeiss scope. I hand load rounds that match the harmonic vibrations of the barrel and the thing is a real tack driver. I can just sit there and hit an 18 inch disk at 800 yards all day long.

Hardrock69
06-29-2010, 09:44 AM
I also was into reloading, etc. as a teenager. Had lotsa fun wif gunpowder and belt-fed weapons in the Army.

ace diamond
06-29-2010, 06:38 PM
i'm very happy to see that the 2nd amendment has been upheld by the highest court in the land.
there is hope for this country of ours just yet.

thome
07-08-2010, 11:47 PM
This may be the single most important thread that has ever been in.............. The Front.

I don't understand why it is slipping away without commentary.?

Hardrock69
07-09-2010, 09:29 AM
Nitro, I recall reading about a guy 20 years ago who set an NRA record....something like 73 bullseyes in a row using an M1 Garand he had never even seen before, with iron sights, on a 1,000 yard range. Near as I can tell, that record has been broken numerous times since then. Pretty amazing. Some people just have the knack.

thome
07-09-2010, 11:04 AM
I have written about this here 50 X.

I have discussed this 4000 X at different discussing places that comments can be discussed at.

Pay close attention:

Once the -SUPREME COURT- or any court writes and passes into -LAW- a "confirmation" of a -GOD GIVEN RITE- or a -CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT RITE-that some say is -HOLY-. ONCE THEY PASS A "WE AGREE THAT THIS OK AND LEGAL".

Within 30 seconds they can legally take that very thing, away forever.

The supreme court has just taken over the constitutionl framework of the freedom of people worldwide to defend themselves from ______________, <insert word.

ELVIS
07-09-2010, 01:16 PM
Them...

Big Brother...

The Government...

thome
07-09-2010, 01:28 PM
your own personal Jesus.

Hardrock69
07-09-2010, 01:41 PM
SATAN!

http://i26.tinypic.com/2s940n9.jpg

thome
07-09-2010, 06:24 PM
Cryptic, Yes/No/Maybe..?

This year has also seen the rise of a very anti-gun politician who may be the next president of the United States. Barack Obama is very close to winning the presidency. Obama is one of the most anti-gun politicians the USA has seen. His running mate, Joseph Biden, wrote the original “assault weapon” ban in the 90’s.

The National Rifle Association has defended the rights of ALL Americans and will continue to do so regardless of who wins this presidential election. Membership is extremely important. The NRA only has as much influence as they have members. If half of the gun owners in America were NRA members, our Second Amendment right would not be in danger. As it stands now, a few of us are shouldering the burden for all gun owners.

Please…if you are not a member of the National Rifle Association, join now! If you are a member, double check your membership and make sure it has not lapsed. Renew if it has. If you are already a current member, consider upgrading to a life membership.

If we do not stick together, the Obama administration will pick apart the gun community. As Benjamin Franklin famously said, “We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”



http://www.politics-360.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/nra-ad-back.jpg


Here is a prediction from thomemind©™®...<(insert spooky electric piano music here)

A tax on all registered firearms and you must register if cannot pay tax, JAIL and confiscation.
The tax will be a property tax that must be paid yearly even if you never use your weapon, you simply have it on hand for whatever reason. The tax will be larger than the value of most weapons, that will creat a reason for people to give up thier arms to save money .
Non-payment of taxes a reason without search warrant to have your domicile raided.

knuckleboner
07-09-2010, 06:35 PM
glad to see that an activist court got it right and didn't strictly adhere to the amendment's language...