SCOTUS to Hear Another 2A Case

On June 26, 2008, the United States Supreme Court handed down a narrow (5-4) decision confirming that the Second Amendment applies as an INDIVIDUAL right to keep and bear arms.

Despite the Supreme Court upholding what everyone already knew and understood about the Second Amendment, people in Chicago are still barred from owning handguns. Further, people who own rifles and shotguns must go through a cumbersome registration process every year. Failure to register a firearm on time makes that firearm incapable of ever being registered again. Clearly, this is a violation not only of the Second Amendment, but of the Supreme Court's ruling last summer.

Incredibly, the City of Chicago is claiming that the Second Amendment is a federal law and therefore does not apply in Chicago. If that were true (and it isn't) then the entire Bill of Rights could be called into question across the nation. Freedom of speech, religion, and the press; the right to privacy, the right to a fair and speedy trial could all be deemed irrelevant if the Bill of Rights was ruled as a federal law and therefore applicable only in the federal terrority of Washington D.C.

It is absurd to think that the Founding Fathers and Revolutionary War heroes fought the crown of England and won to ensure freedom in Washington D.C., but not in the surrounding territories of which the Founders represented. And yet, that is precisely the position that the City of Chicago has taken.

Further weakening Chicago's case, is the fact that this issue was addressed in 1868 with the addition of the Fourteenth Amendment. In addition to other issues, the 14th Amendment states, "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." This has been consistently and repeatedly interpreted, by both the courts and the general populace, to mean that the Bill of Rights is the Supreme Law of the Land and cannot be overruled by local governments.

The same legal team who represented the DC Gun Case filed suit and today, September 30, 2009, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. The case is known as McDonald v. Chicago.

Of additional interest is the fact that newly Obama-appointed Supreme Court justice, Sonia Sotomayor, ruled in January 2009 that the Second Amendment does not protect individuals from having their right to keep and bear arms restricted by state governments. It's probably not unreasonable to expect Sotomayor to rule against the Bill of Rights and against the freedom of the American people in this case as well.

Jennifer Freeman is Executive Director and co-founder of Liberty Belles, a grass-roots organization dedicated to restoring and preserving the Second Amendment.
http://www.libertybelles.org
jennifer@libertybelles.org