Damon Root of Reason takes Dennis Henigan to task for suggesting Heller won’t ultimately mean much. If we get incorporation of the second amendment as applicable to the states, that is where it will likely have its greatest impact. There are precious few gun laws at the federal level I think are likely to be impacted in the short term.
If the thought of new pro-gun constituencies being created in cities like Chicago and New York City doesn’t scare the hell out of Dennis and his boss Paul Helmke, it ought to. What will happen to gun control when the latte elite of Chicago and New York *gasp* know people who own guns? Know people who shoot guns? Maybe even know people who carry guns? Dear god!
There are two major centers of political support for gun control: New York and Chicago. Oh, there are minor ones, like San Francisco, Boston, and DC, but what do all these areas have in common? They’ve all severely restricted access to handguns. No one in these cities likely knows anyone who owns or shoots a gun for recreation, and don’t think much about them for self-defense, because it’s not an option for non-criminals.  That is about to change, and that should keep Paul Helmke and Dennis Hennigan up at night.
UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds and Brian P. Denning chime in with an article in the Northwestern University Law Review.
And yet the Brady Blog claims that very same Reason article supports their views.
Denial, it’s not just for alcoholics and victims of domestic abuse any more!
They’ll double their support of firearms bans to get those ICKY things away from them?
Sorry, but the latte elite funding Joyce and similar aren’t gun bigots because they just don’t know anyone that owns guns. They’ve actively associated all gun owners with racists, murderers, or criminals. That’s the sort of thing that has to happen before you start tossing thousands of dollars to the Joyce Foundation, and that’s how the Joyce Foundation makes money.
I know the sort of people who could be converted by exposure to reality. I was one of those people (I blame the school system). You can be there if you believe Kellerman, or haven’t seen much, but you’re not going to toss thousands of dollars around over Kellerman’s studies alone.
Sorry to burst the bubble, but Heller was our Lawrence, at best. It’s good for proving a point, but the only attention it’s going to get from the other side will be in terms of more money being tossed around.
Ask the Ten Ring folk, or anyone else that’s lived in the People’s Republic of California or Massachusetts or New York City. It doesn’t matter how many hoops registration requires; when owning a gun is treated like cannibalism, both inherently and impressive *wrong*, the few folk who grab the gold ring aren’t going to turn heads.
That’s not to say Heller is meaningless, but it won’t be for what it does to the other side and it won’t be for what it does to the laws most of us deal with.
Nothing will change in SF, as they can’t restrict handguns now, due to preemption.