Thursday is Heller Day. So?
At the close of today’s public session, Chief Justice John Roberts indicated that all the court’s remaining opinions will be issued tomorrow at 10am. That includes District of Columbia v. Heller, which is going to start us off on what will no doubt be a long and loud road towards what new gun regulation will come to be in the District… and likely, everywhere else.
Tom Goldstein wrote on SCOTUSBlog on Monday his speculation that the Heller majority opinion would be written by Justice Scalia, which is probably going to be great news if you’re in favor of an individual right to own a gun versus the more traditional collective militia interpretation. Goldstein points out that Scalia is the only justice who hasn’t penned a majority opinion from the cases in March’s sittings – and this is the last of March’s cases – though of course this assumes (a) Scalia will be on the pro-gun side – probably a fair guess – and (b) that the pro-gun contingent is going to carry this decision, which sure sounded that way from the oral arguments.
That’s divergent from what Mike O’Shea predicted right after oral arguments, when he believed that Justice Roberts or Kennedy would be writing the opinion, though both think there’s going to be an individual right component to the decision.
The reasonable thing to wonder in response to that is, of course, so what? What’s that really mean for people visiting and living in the district? Well, Nina Totenberg’s NPR article here points out that the DC law as it stands doesn’t prohibit residents from keeping what I’d call “long guns” at home for protection, provided that they’re trigger-locked or disassembled, so odds are we’re just going to see that residents will be able to keep pistols as well as rifles at home. Whether they’ll have to continue to be locked is more up in the air. Justice Scalia certainly seemed pretty firmly on the side of self-protection, and DC circuit court ruling said not just that Heller had the right to have the gun at home, but also loaded and unlocked.
I think we can be pretty much certain that at the end of this there’s not going to be any expectation that you’re going to have the right to have a gun out and about with you when you travel through town, visible or not. That might be the next fight Heller and others like him choose to pick, but I’d be overtly astonished if there’s any overt statement on that kind of matter in the decision. The Court likes to give a thumbs up or down to lower court decisions without further narrowing, and the Circuit opinion outright says “Heller does not claim a legal right to carry a handgun outside his home, so we need not consider the more difficult issue whether the District can ban the carrying of handguns in public, or in automobiles.” Or in other words, we’re going to punt and just ignore this sub-issue. Bet on a follow-up case – if this goes as expected and residents are allowed to have guns in their home – over being able to transport them to and fro.
See you at the range.
Guns In Grey, courtesy of barjack
I have never understood the argument that a long gun trigger locked or disassembled can be used for self protection. Removing a trigger lock or assembling a rifle can take enough time when you are not fearing for your life. Add in the adrenalin involved when you might be forced to use that firearm and things can become even more difficult.
Here’s hoping tomorrow the residents of DC get their 2nd Amendment rights back tomorrow and are allowed to own a pistol and not then render it useless by disabling it.
On one hand, I think the best policy for most people is to not have firearms. They cause more problems than they solve and there are too many nitwits out there who do stupid stuff and think they need a weapon for some reason and are just plain-ass wrong. Others have a legitimate concern and maybe really do need a weapon.
However, regardless if you are a nitwit or not, your rights should be the same as other people’s rights, regardless of whether you live in DC or just over the line in VA or MD.
Should we be allowed to carry guns in the District? Absolutely, WITH CERTAIN RESTRICTIONS, such as proof of passing some sort of exam that is freely available and tests knowledge of firearms-relevant laws, skills, abilities, marksmanship, etc. Yeah, I know – a test will discriminate against certain people. That’s all right. If someone is going to use a weapon, I want him to hit the intended target, not spray bullets everywhere and hit bystanders. He should also know the laws, so as not to be a jackass and danger to the public.
Should we carry guns in the District? Absolutely not.
Remember what it means to own a gun. It commits you to using it and thus killing someone. Taking a life is a big deal. If you do not use your firearm when you are in the situation of having to use it, you will likely have it taken and used on you. That’s how those situations end up. By not owning a gun, you can’t have it taken from you. I’m just saying.
[…] Don at Washington D.C. Metblogs gives an update on The Supreme Court ruling in the District of Columbia V. Heller case: At the close of today’s public session, Chief Justice John Roberts indicated that all the court’s remaining opinions will be issued tomorrow at 10am. That includes District of Columbia v. Heller, which is going to start us off on what will no doubt be a long and loud road towards what new gun regulation will come to be in the District… and likely, everywhere else. […]