Wash, DC Overturns Gun Bans - Violates 2nd Amendment

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Published on Friday, 09 March 2007 00:00

Written by Jeff Garvas

We strive to bring you news relative just to Ohio, with a focus on Concealed Carry. Today we find ourselves yet again going beyond that primary focus and bringing you news of a monumental decision out of Washington, D.C. that may make its way into the United States Supreme Court.

This just might be some of the most impressive constitutional gun rights news since the United States, under then Attorney General John Ashcroft, took the position that the Second Amendment is a fundamental individual right as opposed to the collective rights theory.

Today, a divided three-judge D.C. Circuit panel held that the District of Columbia's gun control laws violate individuals' Second Amendment rights. The 75 page ruling can be found here.

To summarize, we conclude that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. That right existed prior to the formation of the new government under the Constitution and was premised on the private use of arms for activities such as hunting and self-defense, the latter being understood as resistance to either private lawlessness or the depredations of a tyrannical government (or a threat from abroad).

In addition, the right to keep and bear arms had the important and salutary civic purpose of helping to preserve the citizen militia. The civic purpose was also a political expedient for the Federalists in the First Congress as it served, in part, to placate their Antifederalist opponents. The individual right facilitated militia service by ensuring that citizens would not be barred from keeping the arms they would need when called forth for militia duty. Despite the importance of the Second Amendment's civic purpose, however, the activities it protects are not limited to militia service, nor is an individual's enjoyment of the right contingent upon his or her continued or intermittent enrollment in the militia.

As we have seen in many other constitutional cases, including decisions by the Ohio Supreme Court, the judges found that DC's gun laws amount to a complete prohibition on the lawful use of handguns for self-defense:

The majority opinion also rejects the argument that the Second Amendment does not apply to the District of Columbia because it is not a State. And the majority opinion concludes, "Section 7-2507.02, like the bar on carrying a pistol within the home, amounts to a complete prohibition on the lawful use of handguns for self-defense. As such, we hold it unconstitutional."

This monumental event is under discussion in our complimentary forums here.

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