The High Court Got this One Right!

In a 5-4 decision on Friday, the United State Supreme Court came to the conclusion that constitutional scholars have known and understood for 219 years…the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution…like all the other amendments of the Bill of Rights except the 10^th Amendment… applies to “individual citizens” and not to the states.   If lawmakers and lower court judges had but experienced a good high school civics course in their lives, they would have understood this, decades ago.

The Bill of Rights (i.e. the first ten amendments to the Constitution) was put into place to limit the power of the national government over the “people”!  Only the 10^th Amendment addresses the rights of the individual states and guarantees their sovereignty within their scope and boundaries.

After the War Between the States, the 14^th Amendment to the Constitution modified the 10^th Amendment by extending the protections “individual citizen” have from the usurpations of the national government to those that could be inflicted by the state as well.

Now, does the Court’s decision on Friday mean that the citizens of Washington, D. C. can immediately run out and purchase guns and ammunition and start holding “shootouts on the National Mall”?

Certainly not!

Jurisprudence, as well as “common sense”, would dictate that government has a right to regulate ownership of guns for the general welfare and safety of the population.  Convicted felons, persons who have been adjudicated as being mentally unbalanced and minor children may, by law, be denied the right to bear arms.  Even good and honest citizens may be compelled to submit to reasonable licensing procedures in order to be able to be armed.

What the Court did say was that the act of government in making the blanket statement that the citizens of the District of Columbia did not have the right, under any circumstances to possess a handgun in their homes for protection was a violation of the Second Amendment.

Regardless of how one feels about the ownership of guns, this was a historically correct decision.  The high court got this one right!