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Court Hears Second Amendment Debate On City Ban
Court Hears Second Amendment Debate On City Ban
Daley Defends Chicago's Gun Laws As Prohibition Comes Under ChallengeWASHINGTON (CBS)
As they hear arguments in a case to against Chicago's nearly 30-year-old handgun ban, the U.S. Supreme Court appears willing to say that the Constitution's right to possess guns limits state and local regulation of firearms.
But the justices also suggested that some gun control measures might not be affected.
The court heard arguments Tuesday in McDonald v. Chicago, a case that challenges handgun bans in the City of Chicago and in Oak Park. The suit also asks the high court to extend to state and local jurisdictions the sweep of its 2008 decision in the District of Columbia v. Heller case, which struck down a gun ban in the federal enclave of Washington, D.C.
The biggest questions before the court seemed to be how, rather than whether, to issue such a ruling and whether some regulation of firearms could survive. On the latter point, Justice Antonin Scalia said the majority opinion he wrote in the 2008 case "said as much."
In Heller v. D.C., the court ruled that the Second Amendment gives individuals a right to possess guns for self-defense and other purposes, but presently, that decision only applied to federal laws, such as those of Washington, D.C.
The court has ruled that most of the rest of the Bill of Rights applies to state and local governments.
The plaintiffs in the case were all present for as their attorneys argue the lawsuit before the Supreme Court.
The plaintiffs are:
--Otis McDonald, a retiree who says he wants protection after his Far South Side house has been broken into repeatedly and he has been threatened.
--David and Colleen Lawson, whose involvement stems from a scare in 2006 when Colleen Lawson was home alone with the flu and three men tried to jimmy open her back door. They ran off when they saw her through a window.
--Adam Orlov, a businessman who was previously a police officer for four years, and believes that people hurt by the city's handgun ban are those obeying it.
McDonald said last year that the possibility of confronting an armed would-be victim might make a criminal think twice.
"We should have, at least, a deterrent, and I think that that will give the would-be robbers, or what have you, something to think about when they get ready to break into a house on an elderly person," McDonald said in September 2009.
The handgun ban has been on the books for some 28 years.
Several aldermen were calling for a freeze on handgun registration in the late 1970s, as gun violence in the city skyrocketed. Morton Grove passed a handgun ban in 1981, and soon afterward, Ald. Edward Burke (14th) proposed an ordinance to ban the further sale and registration of handguns in the City of Chicago, the Encyclopedia of Chicago recounts.
The legislation was approved in 1982, with strong support from Mayor Jane Byrne, and coming just after President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II were wounded by gunfire assassination attempts.
The ban has been weathering legal challenges ever since it was instituted. But it gained newfound attention after the Heller decision.
Within days of the Heller vs. D.C. ruling, suburban Wilmette, Morton Grove and Winnetka did away with their handgun bans altogether, and Evanston repealed parts of its ban.
But in Chicago and Oak Park, the ban remained. A federal judge dismissed lawsuits by the National Rifle Association to overturn the bans, and in June of last year, a three-judge federal appeals court upheld that ruling.
Mayor Richard M. Daley wants the ban to remain in place. He says local officials need flexibility to decide how best to protect their communities.
"We have the right for health and safety to pass reasonable laws dealing with the protection and health of the people of the city of Chicago," Daley said.
He also said the rollback of the city's handgun ban could lead to further erosion of legislation having to do with guns.
"This is the first time; once you start doing this, you'll start breaking down local laws, county and even state laws – unlawful use of a weapon," Mayor Daley said.
The mayor is backed by community groups and Chicago's congressional delegation.
"Many of my friends talk about the fact that they hunt in their state and I will tell them that many of the people who are hunting in Chicago are not hunting wild game -- they are hunting each other," U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) said.
Paul McGrath was an aide to Mayor Byrne who helped craft the city's anti-gun legislation. He believes doing away with the gun restrictions would be a bad idea.
"If our gun control law is struck down, there will be more guns," McGrath said. "Do we want more guns?"
McDonald, Orlov and the Lawsons are not the only plaintiffs -- the Second Amendment Foundation, an anti-gun control group, and the Illinois State Rifle Association are also named.
If Chicago's ban is overturned and the city passes another gun law, the National Rifle Association's Todd Vandermyde predicts a flurry of lawsuits against the city.
"They'd better understand that Supreme Court opinions are not advisory in nature," he said. "They're either going to comply or they're going to find themselves on the long end of a lot of litigation."
http://http://cbs2chicago.com/local/...2.1530231.html
Daley Defends Chicago's Gun Laws As Prohibition Comes Under ChallengeWASHINGTON (CBS)
As they hear arguments in a case to against Chicago's nearly 30-year-old handgun ban, the U.S. Supreme Court appears willing to say that the Constitution's right to possess guns limits state and local regulation of firearms.
But the justices also suggested that some gun control measures might not be affected.
The court heard arguments Tuesday in McDonald v. Chicago, a case that challenges handgun bans in the City of Chicago and in Oak Park. The suit also asks the high court to extend to state and local jurisdictions the sweep of its 2008 decision in the District of Columbia v. Heller case, which struck down a gun ban in the federal enclave of Washington, D.C.
The biggest questions before the court seemed to be how, rather than whether, to issue such a ruling and whether some regulation of firearms could survive. On the latter point, Justice Antonin Scalia said the majority opinion he wrote in the 2008 case "said as much."
In Heller v. D.C., the court ruled that the Second Amendment gives individuals a right to possess guns for self-defense and other purposes, but presently, that decision only applied to federal laws, such as those of Washington, D.C.
The court has ruled that most of the rest of the Bill of Rights applies to state and local governments.
The plaintiffs in the case were all present for as their attorneys argue the lawsuit before the Supreme Court.
The plaintiffs are:
--Otis McDonald, a retiree who says he wants protection after his Far South Side house has been broken into repeatedly and he has been threatened.
--David and Colleen Lawson, whose involvement stems from a scare in 2006 when Colleen Lawson was home alone with the flu and three men tried to jimmy open her back door. They ran off when they saw her through a window.
--Adam Orlov, a businessman who was previously a police officer for four years, and believes that people hurt by the city's handgun ban are those obeying it.
McDonald said last year that the possibility of confronting an armed would-be victim might make a criminal think twice.
"We should have, at least, a deterrent, and I think that that will give the would-be robbers, or what have you, something to think about when they get ready to break into a house on an elderly person," McDonald said in September 2009.
The handgun ban has been on the books for some 28 years.
Several aldermen were calling for a freeze on handgun registration in the late 1970s, as gun violence in the city skyrocketed. Morton Grove passed a handgun ban in 1981, and soon afterward, Ald. Edward Burke (14th) proposed an ordinance to ban the further sale and registration of handguns in the City of Chicago, the Encyclopedia of Chicago recounts.
The legislation was approved in 1982, with strong support from Mayor Jane Byrne, and coming just after President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II were wounded by gunfire assassination attempts.
The ban has been weathering legal challenges ever since it was instituted. But it gained newfound attention after the Heller decision.
Within days of the Heller vs. D.C. ruling, suburban Wilmette, Morton Grove and Winnetka did away with their handgun bans altogether, and Evanston repealed parts of its ban.
But in Chicago and Oak Park, the ban remained. A federal judge dismissed lawsuits by the National Rifle Association to overturn the bans, and in June of last year, a three-judge federal appeals court upheld that ruling.
Mayor Richard M. Daley wants the ban to remain in place. He says local officials need flexibility to decide how best to protect their communities.
"We have the right for health and safety to pass reasonable laws dealing with the protection and health of the people of the city of Chicago," Daley said.
He also said the rollback of the city's handgun ban could lead to further erosion of legislation having to do with guns.
"This is the first time; once you start doing this, you'll start breaking down local laws, county and even state laws – unlawful use of a weapon," Mayor Daley said.
The mayor is backed by community groups and Chicago's congressional delegation.
"Many of my friends talk about the fact that they hunt in their state and I will tell them that many of the people who are hunting in Chicago are not hunting wild game -- they are hunting each other," U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) said.
Paul McGrath was an aide to Mayor Byrne who helped craft the city's anti-gun legislation. He believes doing away with the gun restrictions would be a bad idea.
"If our gun control law is struck down, there will be more guns," McGrath said. "Do we want more guns?"
McDonald, Orlov and the Lawsons are not the only plaintiffs -- the Second Amendment Foundation, an anti-gun control group, and the Illinois State Rifle Association are also named.
If Chicago's ban is overturned and the city passes another gun law, the National Rifle Association's Todd Vandermyde predicts a flurry of lawsuits against the city.
"They'd better understand that Supreme Court opinions are not advisory in nature," he said. "They're either going to comply or they're going to find themselves on the long end of a lot of litigation."
http://http://cbs2chicago.com/local/...2.1530231.html
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