Parker vs. DC

Crap, why does something this big have to happen as I’m about to go on vacation?

SayUncle has all the great details.  This is fantastic news, really fantastic news.   But it could have implications.   Our court strategy has to be very carefully undertaken.   My worry with the Supreme Court ruling that it’s an individual right is that the courts will be flooded with new second amendment cases, and the circuit courts, as they’ve done with other Court rulings they don’t appreciate, will essentially build lower court precedent to render the second amendment effectively meaningless.

Sure, the government might not be able to outright prohibit firearms, but anything up to that might be just fine by the circuit courts.

2 thoughts on “Parker vs. DC”

  1. Sure–but it might be like the course followed by the first amendment (I’m perhaps too optimstic here). Supremes say, in early 20th century, that the first has some meaning (eveyone forgets that the earliest rulings, including the famous right to free speech does not include shouting “fire” in a crowded theater upheld laws that would never pass muster today, in cases that — to cite the fire in theater example — upheld imprisoning people for handing out leaflets telling WWI draftees to be aware of their rights, since that might lead them to resist induction, just as shouting “fire!” might lead to a panic) — then over the next half of a century the Court tightened the standard.

    An expected result might be that the Supremes hold it an indiviidual right, and in this case maybe say a complete ban violates it. Then they let the lower courts battle it out for the next five or ten years, so they don’t stick their own necks out, and then issue another ruling. Repeat as necessary. Constiutional battles can be very slow battles, fought out over a lifetime. I might not see the end, but you might.

  2. I think there’s good reason to be optimistic, but I tend to expect the worst so that I’m pleasantly surprised when things turn out better than I expected :)

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