[TheForge] banning samurai swords (in england)

[schade at acegroup.cc]

On Dec 16, 2007, at 9:48 PM, Jerry Smith wrote:
>  DC is gun free,



The DC law is going to be heard by the Supremes. Decision due next 
summer.

Bob
_____________________________________

Court Sets Its Scope on Handgun Ban
By NICK TIMIRAOS
November 24, 2007; Page A8

(See Corrections and Amplifications item below.)

The Supreme Court agreed this past week to decide whether the 
Constitution grants individuals the right to own firearms, thrusting 
the court into a political thicket ahead of next year's election.

The court will decide whether the District of Columbia's 1976 law that 
bans handguns, generally considered to be the nation's strictest, 
violates the Second Amendment. A federal appeals court struck down the 
handgun ban in March, becoming the first federal court to overturn such 
a law on Second Amendment grounds.

POINTS OF VIEW
 
"The Supreme Court's decision in this case ... may be the most 
important ever regarding the Second Amendment."

--Paul Helmke, Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
"This case is about a lot more than gun control. It is about 
fundamental visions of constitutional democracy."

--Carl T. Bogus, Roger Williams University School of Law
BY THE NUMBERS
 
• The ruling would have broad implications.
 
COMMENTARY
 
• Review & Outlook: Guns and the Constitution1

The high court, which is expected to hear arguments in the spring and 
to issue an opinion by July, hasn't ruled on the issue in nearly 70 
years, leaving plenty of uncertainty about its decision.

Here's a closer look:

What will the court consider? Historians and legal scholars have long 
debated the exact meaning of the 27 words of the Second Amendment, 
which reads: "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."

The court will consider whether the amendment guarantees individuals' 
rights to possess firearms, as gun-rights proponents have argued, or if 
it guarantees only the collective right to own guns as part of an 
organized military force.

Robert Levy, a fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, spent years 
planning a test case that would reach the court and recruited the lead 
plaintiff, Dick Heller, a district resident and security guard who had 
been denied a permit to keep a handgun at his home.

How have courts ruled in the past? The Supreme Court last ruled on the 
matter in a 1939 case that upheld convictions of two men who had 
illegally transported sawed-off shotguns. The court ruled such weapons 
weren't ordinary military equipment. Since then, lower courts 
interpreted the Second Amendment to protect the right of a state to 
field a militia and not an individual right to possess firearms.

But over the past two decades, a growing number of scholars have 
published research supporting the individual-rights view. The Fifth 
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans endorsed that 
interpretation in a 2001 case, and the three-judge panel of the 
District of Columbia Court of Appeals followed in March with the split 
decision that struck down the district's handgun ban.

How could the court rule? It is impossible to predict because the 
justices have ruled on very few Second Amendment cases. Four justices 
that dissented in a case invalidating parts of the federal Brady 
gun-control act in 1997 -- John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader 
Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer -- still are on the court. Meanwhile, 
Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas have hinted at their 
openness to an individual-rights argument, and Chief Justice John 
Roberts said the Second Amendment was still "very much an open issue" 
at his confirmation hearings two years ago.

One possible outcome could protect individuals' rights while allowing 
states to set certain regulations on gun ownership, said Mark Tushnet, 
a Harvard law professor and author of a new book on the gun-control 
debate. But the stakes are so high and the case is so wide open that 
players on both sides initially resisted efforts to bring the case 
forward.

The plaintiffs have charged that the National Rifle Association tried 
to prevent them from pursuing the case, going so far as to push for a 
legislative repeal of the District of Columbia handgun ban so the case 
wouldn't have standing. "I myself was skeptical about the risk-reward 
ratio of this test case," said Nelson Lund, a constitutional law 
professor at George Mason University, who holds a professorship endowed 
by the NRA.

The NRA's Wayne LaPierre acknowledges considerable "back and forth 
among lawyers" about the merits of bringing the case given 
uncertainties over how the court would rule, and says the organization 
pushed for a repeal of the handgun ban long before the current court 
battle began. The NRA filed briefs supporting the plaintiffs before the 
lower courts.

Meanwhile, gun-control supporters encouraged the District of Columbia 
to relax its ban to forestall any unfavorable ruling that might open 
the door to more challenges against hard-fought gun restrictions, such 
as background checks or assault-weapons bans. "You get nervous any time 
you're looking at a 5-4 split," said Paul Helmke, president of the 
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

How could the ruling influence the election? Over the past decade, the 
Democratic Party has concluded that support for more gun restrictions 
has cost them votes, particularly in rural areas and swing states such 
as Tennessee, Ohio and Nevada. Any ruling that threatens gun ownership 
could be especially troubling, and the leading Democratic candidates 
have remained quiet on the issue. Polls show that support for stricter 
gun laws has fallen considerably, from highs of 78% in 1990 to 56% last 
year.

Republican candidates have expressed support for the individual-rights 
view, including Rudy Giuliani, who backed broad gun restrictions as 
mayor of New York.

* * *

Facts
• Constitutions in 44 states secure a right to bear arms, and 14 states 
have added or strengthened such rights since 1970.
 
• The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the authority of 
Congress to ban automatic machine guns in 1996. Judge Samuel Alito cast 
the sole dissenting vote.
 
• Homicides in the District of Columbia peaked at 482 in 1991, up from 
188 in 1976, when the city banned handguns. Last year, it recorded 169 
homicides, and police estimate handguns were used in 80% of those.
 
• The Brady Act of 1993 required background checks for most gun sales. 
Through 2005, 70 million background checks were conducted, resulting in 
some 1.36 million firearm transfers being denied.
 


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