Supreme Court rejects city gun ban, upholds gun rights (2nd Roundup)

Washington - The Supreme Court struck down a 30-year-old ban on all hand guns in the US capital city and for the first time affirmed an individual's right to own firearms in the United States, in a landmark ruling on Thursday. A 44 magnum pistol (R) and shells lay on the counter with a 22 caliber pistol on the pistol ranch at the Bulls Eye Pistol Range and gun shop in Wichita, Kansas USA, 26 June 2008. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution clarifying that Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense and hunting. EPA/LARRY W. SMITH

A 44 magnum pistol (R) and shells lay on the counter with a 22 caliber pistol on the pistol ranch at the Bulls Eye Pistol Range and gun shop in Wichita, Kansas USA, 26 June 2008. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution clarifying that Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense and hunting. EPA/LARRY W. SMITHIt had been nearly 70 years since the highest US court examined whether the US Constitution guarantees gun ownership in the country, and the divided court's 5-4 ruling was its most sweeping decision on the matter to date. The District of Columbia has effectively banned its residents from owning hand guns in the city since 1976, arguing it was necessary to keep down violent crime in the city. It is one of the most restrictive gun laws anywhere in the United States, which has some of the most liberal firearms legislation in the world. The Supreme Court in a narrow 5-4 decision said that the Second Amendment to the US Constitution protects an individual's right to own a gun - an issue which had never been fully resolved by the court. The Washington gun ban was ruled unconstitutional because it banned an entire class of firearms that is typically used for self- defence in homes. City officials disagreed but said they would abide by the ruling. 'I think I speak for the near-unanimous population in this city when we say we are disappointed,' Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty said. 'More handguns in the District of Columbia will only lead to more handgun violence.' Fenty said Washington would begin the process of allowing residents to register handguns, but he said the ruling would not prevent the city from banning those guns from being carried outside of the home. Even with the current ban in place, Washington has one of the highest per-capita murder rates in the country, but the Supreme Court said concerns about gun violence were not enough to override constitutional rights. 'We are aware of the problem of handgun violence in this country ... But the enshrinement of constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy choices off the table,' Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in the court's majority opinion. But the Supreme Court acknowledged that a person's right to own firearms should not be 'unlimited,' and gun control advocates expressed some satisfaction that the ruling had not precluded other measures that would improve safety in the United States. 'This opinion still allows common sense gun control laws, restrictions to make us all safer,' Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, told reporters outside the court, adding that Thursday's decision had only 'limited the extremes' on both sides. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the government was 'pleased' with the decision. The Bush administration opposed the Washington gun ban, but does support lesser restrictions on gun ownership. The long-disputed question of gun rights revolved around a single sentence that comprises the Second Amendment: 'A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.' The 1791 amendment allowed states the right to form their own militias to defend themselves against possible threats from the federal government. In a sign of the deep divisions on the court, Justice John Paul Stevens slammed the ruling as a 'dramatic upheaval' of previous court opinions and said the framers of the constitution never meant to convey an individual right to bear arms. 'The Court stakes its holding on a strained and unpersuasive reading of the Amendment's text,' Stevens wrote for the dissenting justices. Justice Scalia acknowledged the amendment may be 'outmoded' in a time of a standing national army, but said it was up to Congress - not judges - to repeal it. 'It is not the role of this Court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct,' Scalia wrote, and proponents of gun ownership agreed. This is a great moment in American history. It vindicates individual Americans all over this country who have always known that this is their freedom worth protecting,' said Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association.

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RealistJun 26th, 2008 - 17:46:31

This will be a problem for the good people of Maryland & northern Virginia. As DC residents become less easy targets, DC criminals will spread teir favors more widely.

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Supreme Court rejects city gun ban, upholds gun rights (2nd Roundup)

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