The Supreme Court ruled today that individuals have the right to keep and bear arms. It's official - this idiotic theory that the framers of the Constitution somehow tied the possession of firearms to a State or government militia is finally dead.
According to the Associated Press, this ruling does not undo all restrictions on where firearms may be carried, such as schools, government buildings and so on. Neither does the AP think that most gun laws now in place will be affected. The Court simply said that Washington DC cannot ban the possession of handguns outright. Individuals have the right to keep and bear arms for the purposes of self-defense and hunting.
The Second Amendment reads:
"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."
Of course this Supreme Court's interpretation is the only one that makes sense. In the First Amendment, government may not proscribe individual expression or religious practice. Neither is limited to clergy or press. If government is prohibited from trampling individual rights in the First and Fourth Amendments, how can we all of a sudden start talking about "collective" rights in the Second? That makes no sense at all!
For those who still do not believe that individuals ought not have the right to keep and bear firearms, you have but one thing to do: Get the Second Amendment repealed. That's what you all should have been doing all along. But be prepared for long and drawn out resistance. America's gun owners will not give up without a huge and costly legislative battle.
