Crazy People in Charge


This is what happens when the right wing takes control of your government:

A federal appeals court in Washington today struck down on Second Amendment grounds a gun control law in the District of Columbia that bars residents from keeping handguns in their homes.

The court relied on a constitutional interpretation that has been rejected by nine federal appeals courts around the nation. The decision was the first from a federal appeals court to hold a gun-control law unconstitutional on the ground that the Second Amendment protects the rights of individuals, as opposed to a collective right of state militias.

This is an absurd decision, but it was entirely predictable that something like this would happen sooner or later. When you load courts with doctrinaire right wingers, the chickens come home to roost sooner or later. The question is, are there five sane people on the Supreme Court to reverse this, or will the country be sentenced to a constitutional system in which anyone has the right to unlimited access to any weapon they want?

There is a certain amount of hubris involved with trying to speak for the people who framed the constitution, but I think one can say with confidence that James Madison was too sane a person to believe that every person had a right to own any weapon they wished, particularly if he could have conceived of the type of weapons available today.

This is a case involving the District of Columbia. If upheld, it would apparently void all federal attempts to regulate ownership of firearms. If it is extended to the states via the 14th Amendment, all local controls would fall as well.

Interesting questions arise. Is there a limit to the type of weapon I am allowed to own? Am I allowed to have a nuclear weapon, or an M-1 tank? But perhaps I'm being alarmist. These right-wingers are constantly talking about how they want to go back to "original intent" when interpreting the constitution. So I suggest we do just that, and limit the right to bear arms to the right to own a musket.
Posted: Friday - March 09, 2007 at 08:13 PM          

©