Justices Extend Gun Owner Rights Nationwide

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.

From Brietbart.com  (See additional reference at bottom)
By MARK SHERMAN
Associated Press Writer

The Supreme Court held Monday that Americans have the right to own a gun for self-defense anywhere they live, expanding the conservative court's embrace of gun rights since John Roberts became Chief Justice.

By a 5-4 vote, the justices cast doubt on handgun bans in the Chicago area, but signaled that some limitations on the Constitution's "right to keep and bear arms" could survive legal challenges.

Justice Samuel Alito said for the court that the Second Amendment right "applies equally to the federal government and the states."

The court was split along familiar ideological lines, with five conservative-moderate justices in favor of gun rights and four liberals opposed. Roberts voted with the majority.

Two years ago, the court declared that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to possess guns, at least for purposes of self-defense in the home.

That ruling applied only to federal laws. It struck down a ban on handguns and a trigger lock requirement for other guns in the District of Columbia, a federal city with unique legal standing. At the same time, the court was careful not to cast doubt on other regulations of firearms here.

Gun rights proponents almost immediately filed a federal lawsuit challenging gun control laws in Chicago and its suburb of Oak Park, Ill., where handguns have been banned for nearly 30 years. The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence says those laws appear to be the last two remaining outright bans.

Lower federal courts upheld the two laws, noting that judges on those benches were bound by Supreme Court precedent and that it would be up to the high court justices to ultimately rule on the true reach of the Second Amendment.

The Supreme Court already has said that most of the guarantees in the Bill of Rights serve as a check on state and local, as well as federal, laws.

Monday's decision did not explicitly strike down the Chicago area laws. Instead, it ordered a federal appeals court to reconsider its ruling. But it left little doubt that the statutes eventually would fall.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley said he was disappointed with the ruling, adding that officials already are at work rewriting the ordinance to meet the court's gun rights guarantee and protect Chicago residents from gun violence.
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It should have been 9-0!

More at Human Events... - By A.W.R. Hawkins
I like this guy!
... Then came June 28, 2010, and the verdict in McDonald vs. Chicago hit like a hammer as Justice Samuel Alito expressed the majority opinion:
“We have previously held that most of the provisions of the Bill of Rights apply with full force to both the Federal Government and the States. Applying the standard that is well established in our case law, we hold that the Second Amendment right is fully applicable to the States.”

The good news is that any provision of the Bill of Rights which is fully applicable to the States is, by the very language of the 10th Amendment, fully applicable to the people. Thus when the Washington Post carried the news about the Supreme Court’s verdict their story read: “The Supreme Court held Monday that Americans have the right to own a gun for self-defense anywhere they live.”

Did you hear that Mayor Daley? – “Anywhere they live.”
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YEAH!!!