The Supremes Decide Correctly on the DC Gun Ban Case (Heller)

The Supreme Court has affirmed the Heller case, which overturns the DC gun ban. More to follow.

UPDATE: From Scotusblog:

10:13 Ben Winograd -
The Court has released the opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller (07-290), on whether the District’s firearms regulations – which bar the possession of handguns and require shotguns and rifles to be kept disassembled or under trigger lock – violate the Second Amendment. The ruling below, which struck down the provisions in question, is affirmed.

Justice Scalia wrote the opinion. Justice Breyer dissented, joined by Justices Stevens, Souter and Ginsburg. We will provide a link to the decision as soon as it is available.

10:13 Tom Goldstein - Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm.

The first line of Scalia's opinion says it all:

The 2nd Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with the service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes such as self defense within the home.

It was 5-4 again, but this time Kennedy came down on the correct side. It's scary to think we were only one liberal vote away from losing individual gun ownership rights. Elections matter.

UPDATE 2 - Statement from John McCain:

ARLINGTON, VA-- U.S. Senator John McCain today issued the following statement regarding today's United States Supreme Court ruling on District of Columbia v. Heller:

Today's decision is a landmark victory for Second Amendment freedom in the United States. For this first time in the history of our Republic, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms was and is an individual right as intended by our Founding Fathers. I applaud this decision as well as the overturning of the District of Columbia's ban on handguns and limitations on the ability to use firearms for self-defense.

Unlike Senator Obama, who refused to join me in signing a bipartisan amicus brief, I was pleased to express my support and call for the ruling issued today. Today's ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller makes clear that other municipalities like Chicago that have banned handguns have infringed on the constitutional rights of Americans. Unlike the elitist view that believes Americans cling to guns out of bitterness, today's ruling recognizes that gun ownership is a fundamental right- sacred, just as the right to free speech and assembly.

This ruling does not mark the end of our struggle against those who seek to limit the rights of law-abiding citizens. We must always remain vigilant in defense of our freedoms. But today, the Supreme Court ended forever the specious argument that the Second Amendment did not confer an individual right to keep and bear arms.

Nice little shot at Barack "No Guns" Obama. Obama is on record as previously stating his support for the DC gun ban and also stated that he thought it was constitutional. He was wrong.

Here's something scary to think about: Two of the four dissenting justices were appointed by Republicans. John Paul Stevens was appointed by Gerald Ford, and David Souter by George H.W. Bush. Republicans, when given the opportunity to appoint justices, have got to do a better job than that. President George W. Bush's two appointments, John Roberts and Sam Alito, have been shining stars and will be a long-lasting legacy to the Bush Administration.

UPDATE 3: Obama is desperately trying to backtrack on his previous support for the DC gun ban:

The Obama campaign, getting ready for an expected Supreme Court ruling on the constitutionality of Washington, D.C.'s gun control legislation, reverses a statement it put out last year that the ban was constitutional.

(The campaign now describes the statement as "inartful," but it wasn't ambiguous: "Obama believes the D.C. handgun law is constitutional.")

In elements of Obama's record, he seems always to have had an eye on the national stage, avoiding the positions of a politician who represented a city district where liberal positions are a default. On guns, he's been struggling to maintain that he's had sympathy for gun rights all along, and his campaign has insisted — as in this case — that it's not Obama who's moved, it's that past pro-gun-control statments have been the fault of his staff, as in a pair of questionnaires from 1996 in which he favored firm gun control measures.

Obama is the Elastic Man when it comes to important issues.

UPDATE 4: One of my Senators, Dianne Feinstein, demonstrates her ignorance:

Statement of Senator Dianne Feinstein On the Supreme Court’s Ruling Overturning the DC Handgun Ban

“I must admit as much as I knew this decision was coming, I was viscerally affected by the decision.

I remember both Justice Roberts and Justice Alito sitting in front of us and indicating how they would respect stare decisis and precedent – and this decision takes down 70 years of precedent.

I guess I didn’t really think that they would do this. I think it opens this nation to a dramatic lack of safety.

What precedent? This is the first time the Supremes have ruled conclusively on the 2nd amendment and affirmed the individual right contained therein since it was ratified in 1791. There isn't "70 years of precedent" that ever contradicted that.

UPDATE 5: How about this headline from Reuters:

Supreme Court finds individual right to own guns

"Finds?" The Supreme Court didn't "find" an individual right, they affirmed the right that had been there all along. In 1973 the Supremes "found" a right to abortion that clearly wasn't there. There is a diffence.

And, this one from ABC:

Supreme Court Says Americans Have Right to Own Guns

Wrong. The Constitution says Americans have the right to own guns. We've allowed the Supreme Court to be the voice of God on all of our major issues.

And there's this entertaining entry from diarist Adam B at the wacky left site DailyKos:

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.

In a 5-4 decision authored by Justice Scalia, the Supreme Court today determined that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to bear arms, even though no one's entirely sure what the text of the Second Amendment is:

The guy listed the text of the second amendment at the start of his post, and then says no one's entirely sure what the text is. That's some real brainpower they have over there.