As expected for weeks, the Supreme Court is holding off its ruling in the Second Amendment Foundation’s case against the Chicago handgun ban until the last day of the current session, which is next Monday.
Joining in the case was the Illinois State Rifle Association and four Chicago residents, including Otis McDonald, for whom this sure-to-be-landmark case is named.
An affirmative ruling will strike down the ban as a violation of the Second Amendment, which the court is expected to incorporate to the states through the 14th Amendment. It will also mark the second time that crack attorney Alan Gura will have won a major gun rights victory before the high court. He was theattorney who won the Heller ruling in 2008, the case that defined the Second Amendment as protective of an individual civil right.
Heller only applied toWashington DC , but if the Supremes rule forgun owners next week, that could change laws nationwide."-John Stossel, Fox News Chicago
Do not be surprised, however, if the ruling allows for some local regulation of guns, with no clear definition as to what a “reasonable” regulation might encompass. Anti-gunners, of course, suggest that “reasonableness” covers the most Draconian registration and licensing requirements, which pretty much reveals their anti-liberty mindset.
As this column noted here, striking down the Chicago gun ban will be a major defeat for the Windy City’s windbag demagogue Mayor Richard Daley, a dinosaur of machine politics. No doubt he will direct the bureaucracy to stonewall and stall, produce contradictory regulations and do whatever can be done to discourage and frustrate citizens from exercising their newly-regained right of self-defense. It is the behavior pattern of all municipal tyrants who find themselves suddenly faced with the reality of law and the public will. They go down ranting and screaming rather than ever acknowledge that they just might have been wrong.
To me, any gun taken off [the street] saves thousands of lives in. I really believe that. I don’t care what you tell me.”— America Mayor Richard Daley Chicago
Fox News’ John Stossel this week authored a piece on why, in his opinion, Chicago residents need guns. One need only consider the recent high-profile self-defense shootings in that city, by citizens who armed themselves despite Mayor Daley’s effort to keep them at the mercy of neighborhood thugs. As this column noted here and here, these shootings underscore the importance of the SAF lawsuit.
For SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb, a victory in this case will be a just reward for having labored in the shadows for decades to see that the Second Amendment truly is the “law of the land.” It will spotlight what can be accomplished by a relatively small crew of people headquartered in Bellevue, WA in a two-building complex known as "Liberty Park," as different an environment from the Washington, D.C. Beltway as one could find, where everything seems to require committee action.
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BULLETIN UPDATE: Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, is planning a press conference Monday morning at 10 a.m. (Central Time) following the ruling at the Hotel Allegro, 171 West Randolph Street in Chicago, according to revised information from ISRA.
Alan Gottlieb is planning to join Alan Gura at the Supreme Court for Monday morning's ruling. This column is also advised that Otis McDonald will join them at the Supreme Court, where all three will be available to the media.
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If the high court rules as anticipated, it will be a defeat not only for Mayor Daley, but a shot across the political bow of every other anti-gun politician across the map, in state legislatures, county administrative buildings and even city halls. Henceforth, local gun laws will have to pass muster under a much higher level of scrutiny than in the past, and one can expect a number of those statutes and ordinances to eventually be stricken by court challenge.
We took Daley to court because we trust his citizens more than he does with their self-defense rights. Chicago residents have endured the terror of public disarmament for almost three decades, and all they have to show for it is a body count. Mayor Daley should be ashamed.”—Alan Gottlieb, Second Amendment Foundation
How the justices come down on the issue of incorporation will signal, as this column noted here, what to anticipate if Elana Kagan is confirmed to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. It will provide an opportunity for Justice Sonia Sotomayor to confirm what her critics feared about her gun rights philosophy, or confound them.
The New American, relying largely on a press release issued by Gottlieb earlier this week, offered something of an analysis on what the Supreme Court ruling will mean in northern Illinois.
This is liable to be a long weekend for anti-gunners, who may spend their time trying to figure out how to spin an adverse ruling, and a pretty busy Monday for the people at SAF's Bellevue offices if the case goes as court observers predict. The outcome of McDonald v. City of Chicago will not be the end of legal battles over firearm civil rights, but only the second major step toward restoration of the Second Amendment to the position it is supposed to have as a key tenet of the Bill of Rights.
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Comments
I'm hoping this will pass for multiple reasons, but most of all to sort of slap Daley up side his head, to give him a wake up call, This isn't the Roaring 20's and Chicago will in time join the rest of America.
I had to leave IL. to be able to feel safe. Yes that's right. I now reside in FL where I can carry my hand gun. I hope I never have to use it but, having been the victim of violent crime, I'm glad I have it.
Dave,
I've been told the address you give for the ISRA Press Conference is incorrect. It's at:
Hotel Allegro at 171 West Randolph St Chicago, IL.
It was the address I was originally given, but a check with ISRA confirmed that the location was changed when the original hotel could not provide a large enough room for the event.
As you can see, I have updated the information
SCOTUS shredded 1A this week.
Expect them to shred 2A on Monday; with infringing ok.
The Perfect Storm: Obama, Pelosi, Reid, SCOTUS.
Assuming the court decides in the manner than most people expect, overturning the Chicago ban and incorporating the 2nd Amendment, it will be interesting to see what impact this may have on rediculously convoluted laws in places like California, where they ban many guns based purely on cosmetics.
Here in Washington, about the only changes I'd like to see are the lifting of limitations on silencers (we can own them, but not use them, how dumb is that) and on full auto weapons, as other places such as Oregon have shown that the NFA rules are sufficient for controlling those items.
I'd also like to see national reciprocity for concealed carry permits (or how about we all follow the lead of Arizona and drop the licensing requirement altogether) as well as a law that forbids employers from prohibiting employees from having firearms locked in their cars in the company parking lot.
sofa;
Can you explain what SCOTUS did on 1A since handing down "Citzens United"? If you refer to the "Disclose Act" which got NRA in trouble over their presumed exemption, This never got out of Congress to hit the courts for them to react.
Re: 2A, While the "Fat Lady" will likely sing in our favor, We must wait for the Aria on Monday and find what the next step is to be.
>> 'I don't give a crap what any court says, I'm going to do what I want!' <<
Thats the translation, it's what he believes, and what he believes he has the right to impose, upon everyone, Constitution and bill of rights, be damned!
He is a tyrant and he is not alone.
Dave, I feel like a fool for thinking SCOTUS would rule on McDonald on June 24. I should have realized that they would make us sweat it out for as long as possible, and not rule until June 28.
I still say that SCOTUS' vote will be 6-3, with Ginsberg joining the four conservatives and Anthony Kennedy to incorporate the 2A.
Heck, it's even possible John Paul Stevens may vote to incorporate the 2A, since he said the 2A is an individual right in Heller. He disagreed on the SCOPE of the 2A. He may finally decide, (as will Ginsberg) that the 2A applies in EVERY city and state in the country.
It would be a heck of a parting gift from Stevens, so McDonald, just possibly, could go 7-2 to incorporate..
Here's to hoping that they do what they did in Heller and finally get rid of the ridiculous anti-gun regulations that Chicago has had for far too long. Hopefully it will also change the tunes of the rest of the state and finally get CCW passed her in IL. I'm tired of only being able to carry a gun on my property for protection.
This decision will make things worse. "Reasonable" restrictions? What part of "SHALL NOT INFRINGE" does the Supreme court not understand?
After the Heller decision, D.C. just put so many restrictions on what kind of gun you could have in D.C., it's going to end up doing more harm than good.
Expect the latest decision to pave the way for gun owner fingerprinting, dna extraction, 'smart-gun' mandates, and microstamping / encoded ammo.
Pat R. is correct. We will declare victory while the noose of "reasonable restrictions" is fastened around our throats. Just as happened with Heller.
Of course there are likely to be "reasonable restrictions", or something of the sort. And I've been saying that here all along.
The Constitution itself is not a set of laws, but rather a document upon which our laws are based. As such, the words "...right to keep and bear arms..." does not define, nor intend to define, exactly what those words mean. Instead, that is left to interpretation, which is ultimately the job of the SCOTUS.
That said, although Chicago's current ban on firearms possession will likely be ruled unconstitutional, we should expect Mayor Daley to use every means he can dream up to fight it. However, individual states will more then likely retain the right to promulgate their own firearms laws, rules and regulations just as they do now.
We've all read or heard the argument "Well why can't I own <insert this or that weapon> then? Again, the "right" to own something does not, by itself, detail just what that something is, where one can keep or carry it, or anyt
(cont...)
We've all read or heard the argument "Well why can't I own <insert this or that weapon> then? Again, the "right" to own something does not, by itself, detail just what that something is, where one can keep or carry it, or anything else. It simply means one as the 'right' and that the 'right' itself shall not be infringed. Simply put, it means "You can own guns as long as they meet the law" verses, "Sorry, you have no right to own any guns at all, period". Neither statement defines what kind, how or where you can keep or carry them, how many, where one can buy/sell them and so on and so forth.
the rubes who keep electing King Daley II and his minions deserve what they get--high taxes, corruption up the wazoo, confiscation of constitutional rights, and a lower quality of life.
as for me, i joined the NRA and ISRA, moved out of Chicago and out of Cook County. i'll keep my money AND my constitutional rights, thank you very much!
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