Dave Hardy provides a few links to the motion for summary judgment in the Chicago handgun case. A few things pop out at me:
- They offer the possibility of using the privileges and immunities clause, which was gutted in the Slaughterhouse Cases. If the court bites, we’d be re-blazing a trail long ago scorched by the Supreme Court.
- It appears Mr. Gura is attempting to chip away a bit at registration. While they are not challenging Chicago’s registration requirements per se, they are challenging a few aspects of it. Here’s an exerpt:
Whatever the value of registration, the requirement that guns be constantly re-registered burdens gun ownership but serves no useful purpose. The city already mandates that registrants immediately notify police of any changes in their registration information, including loss or disposition of a gun or registration certificate. Chicago Mun. Code § 8-20-140. Moreover, “[a] state may not impose a charge for the enjoyment of a right granted by the Federal Constitution.†Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 319 U.S. 105 (1943). The penalty for lapsed or improper registration rendering the subject firearm “unregisterable†is likewise unconstitutional.
One bite off the apple at a time is how we’ll win this.