Chicago's Gun Law Will Get Supreme Court Scrutiny

As is always the case gun bans do not result in a decrease in violence, and Chicago is a classic example of that:

Otis McDonald, 76, is afraid for his life in his crime-saturated Chicago neighborhood and he is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn his city's strict ban on handguns in the home.

Could a case headed for the Supreme Court overturn gun laws in Chicago?"In my home, this is the only time I worry," McDonald said. "There's more guns coming into this city than the police can take away from them. So if I've got a gun, and if others have guns in their homes to protect themselves, then that's one thing that police would have to worry about less."

For nearly 30 years, Chicago has banned possession of handguns and automatic weapons inside city limits, one of the most stringent gun laws in the country.

McDonald's appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court comes a year and a half after the Court stunned gun-control advocates in another case, declaring for the first time that the Constitution protects an individual's right to own a gun in his or her home.

McDonald is asking the justices to have the Heller ruling applied in cities and states across the country.

"It makes me feel like the city cares more for the thugs than they do me, and I'm the one paying taxes," McDonald said of being barred from owning a gun in his own house.

The National Rifle Association agrees. "The Heller case had only to do with federal enclaves," Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, said. "This has to do with whether the freedom applies to every American in every city and town all over our country."

In 1982, Chicago imposed the strict gun ordinance to help combat rampant gang and firearm violence that plagued the city.

How's that working out? Is Chicago safer today than it was in 1982?

Not a chance.

The city has suddenly discovered the 10th amendment and wants the power to regulate guns left in the hands of the city (even if it doesn't work). In general I support 10th amendment arguments, but not when they interfere with the Bill of Rights. The Chicago laws don't just ban the carrying of handguns, but the possession of handguns by law-abiding citizens, and I think they run into a constitutional problem at that point. I expect the court will strike down the Chicago gun ban using the same logic applied in the Heller case.

It would be great if the lawyers would simply stand up and give the statistics showing how badly this policy has failed. That alone should be grounds enough to toss it out.