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Supreme Court accepts SAF challenge to Chicago handgun ban
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Fifteen months after the June 26, 2008 landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that the Second Amendment protected an individual civil right to keep and bear arms that extends far beyond service in a militia – striking down the Washington, D.C. handgun ban as unconstitutional in the process – the high court has accepted another case that could be just as earth-shaking, especially for gun prohibitionists.
Wednesday morning, the court announced that it would hear a challenge to the Chicago handgun ban, a case filed by the Second Amendment Foundation, Illinois State Rifle Association and four Chicago residents. The case is officially known as McDonald v. Chicago (08-1521).
SAF was delighted to bring this case in cooperation with the Illinois State Rifle Association and the four local plaintiffs because a gun ban is no less onerous to civil rights in Chicago than it was in the District of Columbia.” - Alan Gottlieb, Second Amendment Foundation
Visit SCOTUSblog.com and scroll down to blogger Lyle Denniston's remarks about the case. There are also links to petitions and writs that have been filed in this case.
A similar case, filed by the National Rifle Association one day after SAF and ISRA filed their lawsuit (NRA v. Chicago, 08-1497), and a case out of New York, Maloney v. Rice (08-1592) are essentially on hold.
The full history of the SAF/ISRA lawsuit against Chicago can be found here.
Plaintiffs in the SAF/ISRA case are represented by Alan Gura, the attorney who successfully argued the case of District of Columbia v. Heller, which resulted in last year’s Second Amendment affirmation, and Chicago Attorney David Sigale
State and local politicians should be on notice: the Second Amendment is a normal part of the Bill of Rights, and it is coming to your town.”- Attorney Alan Gura
Alan Gottlieb, SAF founder and executive vice president, told me this morning that the McDonald case has huge implications. Reiterating what he said in a press release that went out moments after the Supreme Court announced its decision to hear the case, Gottlieb said the Chicago handgun ban was challenged because “a gun ban is no less onerous to individual civil rights in Chicago than it was in Washington, D.C.”
The City of Chicago cannot take from millions of Americans the fundamental freedom of self-defense in one’s own home. We are confident the Court will stand on the side of the law-abiding citizens and the Bill of Rights.”- Attorney David Sigale
And just how “huge” are the implications of the McDonald case? If the high court rules that the Second Amendment is incorporated as a limit on state and local governments, as it is now a limit on the federal government, the floodgates will open for legal challenges to onerous gun control statutes and ordinances all over the map. State legislatures will have to seriously consider whether existing laws and proposed legislation infringe on the individual rights of citizens.
In essence, an affirmative ruling on incorporation that strikes down the Chicago ban would be what California-based pro-gun attorney Chuck Michel once called a “full employment act for attorneys.”
Visit with other Gun Rights Examiners:
Anthony Bouchard - Cheyenne, WY
John Longenecker – Los Angeles, CA
Mike Stollenwerk – Washington, DC
Skip Coryell – Grand Rapids, MI
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