Guns and Judges

In District of Columbia v. Heller, 128 S. Ct. 2783 (2008), the Supreme Court held that a District of Columbia ban on handguns was unconstitutional. In National Rifle Association, v. City of Chicago, the Supreme Court is taking another look at the Second Amendment. This time the NRA petitioner is arguing that the Second Amendment has been incorporated into the Due Process or Privileges and Immunities Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment; therefore, state bans on handguns are also unconstitutional. If the Court agrees, various state ordinances prohibiting or restricting possession of hand guns will be found unconstitutional, or on shaky constitutional ground.

On a related note, some have characterized Sotomayor as an anti-gun activist due to her recent decision in Maloney v. Cuomo, 554 F.3d 56 (2009) that a New York ban on nunchuka did not violate the Second Amendment.

...Having Easterbrook and Posner on her team should help a little.

Finally, for those of you interested in reading more about the Second Amendment, here are a few titles available in the Law Library:

• The mythic meanings of the Second Amendment : taming political violence in a constitutional republic by David C. Williams [KF4558 2nd .W55 2003]


• Gun violence in America : the struggle for control by Alexander DeConde [ HV7436 .D43 2001]


• The right to bear arms : rights and liberties under the law by Robert J. Spitzer [KF3941 .S68 2001

And some history on this and other NRA petitions, and links to court documents filed around the same time is available on SCOTUS.