Top court’s gun ban rejection is opportunity for D.C.

First, is anyone surprised that a court dominated by gun-loving justices like Antonin Scalia would not support the city’s gun laws?

With all due respect to Walter Dellinger, who argued the case before the court, Las Vegas oddsmakers would have bet 10-1 against a victory. Did anyone expect Justices John Roberts Jr., Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito Jr. to side with D.C.? Anthony Kennedy joined the conservative foursome to knock down the city’s strict ban.

Can you say slam-dunk?

The politicians, drunk on the dogma of gun control, made the wrong decision in taking this case to the Supreme Court. Mayor Adrian Fenty, Councilman Phil Mendelson and the rest of the council, together with D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, took the bait and wound up giving libertarians the chance to affirm an individual’s right to bear arms under the Second Amendment.

No only did the majority throw out the District’s near-total ban on handguns, the justices also declared unconstitutional the city’s requirement that rifles and shotguns be disassembled or disabled with a trigger lock.

Liberal legal thinkers started writing years ago that the Second Amendment applied to individuals. Did Fenty, a lawyer, not read them?

I know the arguments put forth by gun control advocates. Children will play with guns in the home. Innocent people will get shot by trigger-happy homeowners. Citizens packing legally registered guns will turn D.C. into Dodge City.

First, kids rarely get shot with loaded handguns in homes, even though many D.C. homes are armed. Second, the Supreme Court’s ruling would allow handguns and rifles only in the home.

Anyone carrying a weapon without a license on the street can still be arrested.

Herein lies the real problem: The District’s gun crime laws are ineffective. From the council’s laws to the police and prosecutors to the judges, the system allows criminals with guns to roam the streets.

Thursday’s decision presents District leaders with an opportunity. Taking the expected path, judiciary committee Chairman Phil Mendelson will waste his time and influence re-regulating gun laws to create a de facto ban. Which libertarian lawyers will take back to court.

Why not change the course of the city’s development and make the streets safer by doing two things: First, make it harder for criminals to get, keep, use and reuse guns. Second, educate children and adults about guns, gun safety and gun danger.

The mayor and Police Chief Cathy Lanier are trying to shore up the gun crime system. Under the Gunstat program, the city is attempting to plug holes in the system that now fails to control gun violence. Even Marion Barry, who’s felt the barrel of a gun to his head, knows the city’s gun laws are a joke.

Having lost, Fenty and rest of the city’s leaders can actually win by making the gun laws work.