Re: DC Circuit -- Second Amendment guarantees an individual right (NBC)


"Greg Weber" <e-streetBLOCK@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:0001HW.C21813B6000A22AAF0182648@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Sat, 10 Mar 2007 01:38:20 -0600, robcar wrote
(in article <1173512300.174846.141570@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>):

On Mar 9, 5:02 pm, Greg Weber <e-streetNOS...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The decision--Parker v. DC--can be accessed
here:http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/bin/opinions/allopinions.asp

From the majority opinion:

"[T]he phrase 'the right of the people,' when read intratextually and
in
light of Supreme Court precedent, leads us to conclude that the right
in
question is individual."

This opinion directly conflicts with the very persuasive opinion
issued by the 9th Circuit court a few years back. That opinion found
that the 2nd Amendment confers a collective right to bear arms, not an
individual right. While I'm no afficianado of gun rights history,
that 9th Circuit opinion contained a detailed historical analysis that
showed, if I recall correctly, that the authors of the 2nd Amendment
didn't intend it to apply to private individuals, only to organized
militias (basically today's National Guard).

I would think that any opinion in favor of individual rights would
have to somehow discredit this historical analysis, which I found
extremely compelling and persuasive.

I too would be shocked if the USSC takes this on appeal.

The 9th Circuit decision you're talking about is Silveira v. Lockyer, 312
F.3d 1052 (9th Cir. 2003). Until yesterday, the leading individual rights
decision was United States v. Emerson, (5th Cir. 2001). I think
the scholarship in Emerson is better, but Parker (yesterday's decision)
makes
the individual rights case as well or better.

Again, the decision's here:
http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/bin/opinions/allopinions.asp

It does a good job of setting out both sides of the issue.

Almost certainly DC will ask for en banc review (review by all active
circuit
judges, not just the 3 who originally decided the case). And if there's a
cert petition filed in SCOTUS, there's a second possible issue lurking
around
out there -- whether the Second Amendment even applies to DC at all, since
it
isn't a state, but "a purely federal entity."

I don't know if SCOTUS will want to deal with the Second Amendment issue.
Since so many states have written individual right guarantees into their
state constitutions and laws, SCOTUS may see the federal protection
becoming
a non-issue. And really, the DC law was a walking Second Amendment
violation. DC's lawyers admitted the law amounted to a complete
prohibition
on handgun ownership--an insanely extreme position that few states and
municipalities have adopted. But for the ones that have . . . .


Greg, (Jerry, etc.)

how many "Amendment cases" have there been in which the Supreme Court
reversed their own opinion? In Brown v Board of Education, they reversed
themselves (Plessy v Ferguson and related cases) on the issue of
segregation. Any others? And I am specifically referring to cases where
a) they reversed or overruled or otherwise overturned law/precedent that the
Supremes had previously decided in the opposite direction (as opposed to
lower courts so deciding)
b) the reversal was based simply on a reconsideration of the law (they
changed their minds), as opposed to any new statute or amendment changing
the rules
c) and the overruling/reversal was on Constitutional grounds (as opposed to
finally dealing with substance after always avoiding the situation through
procedural or jurisdictional rulings).

As I mentioned above, I can think of Brown v Board of Education, but at this
hour in the AM, no others.

I wonder because the Supremes have ruled on the individual rights and
militia issues )United States v. Miller, 307 U.S. 174, 178 (U.S. 1939) and
"the Second Amendment guarantees no right to keep and bear a firearm that
does not have 'some reasonable relationship to the preservation or
efficiency of a well regulated militia' ", Lewis v. United States, 445 U.S.
55, 65 (U.S. 1980), quoting Miller). Personally, while I support gun
control, I have always found the militia argument to be based on a tortured
reading. So I see room for a court that is so-minded to reverse the
decision. But really, how often DOES the USSC reverse themselves?



.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Ya gotta be kidding me!
    ... >an EF-40 in my opinion. ... I suppose it is hard to say based on his cruddy scan pictures. ... looking at the reverse, my gut feeling tells me that there was at ...
    (rec.collecting.coins)
  • Re: count: natural or reverse
    ... their opinion at least). ... To start the ball rolling and despite living in a reverse count part ... provide is that they are playing an honest card from Hx and they don't ... about standard signaling. ...
    (rec.games.bridge)
  • Re: is he a killer cyclist?
    ... Not even a nice try on your part, quite the reverse. ... opinion on. ... I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me ...
    (uk.rec.cycling)
  • Re: A SLOW-ONSET TETANUS VACCINE REACTION
    ... Tell us, John, how many corrections have ... Have you ever reversed an opinion about vaccination. ... > reverse there, and it does get worse the more you look into it, funnily ...
    (sci.med)
  • Re: OT Kerry was right
    ... You speak about the right to have opinion and the right not to be attacked ... American you have a right to express a negative opinion on the war in Iraq ... and indeed on the President's action that took the United States into Iraq, ...
    (rec.aviation.military)
Loading