Showdown at the D.C. Corral

After the Supreme Court's decision to review a lower court's ruling that overturned the District of Columbia's gun ban, you can expect all of the MSM's eyes to be focused on guns and the 2nd Amendment. They waited until now to give any coverage to Students for Concealed Carry on Campus even though the group was created shortly after the Virginia Tech disaster.

The 2nd Amendment to the Constitution provides that "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." Does that prevent the federal government (of which DC's government is a part) from banning private ownership of firearms, as the DC law essentially does? That is the questioned asked by Glenn Reynolds, professor of law at the University of Tennessee and author of Instapundit, in a recent op-ed.
From the left we have a NY Times editorial expressing their opinion that the Supremes disregard the 2nd Amendment: "The hope, which we share, is that the court will rise above the hard-right ideology of some justices to render a decision respectful of the Constitution’s text and the violent consequences of denying government broad room to regulate guns. The fear is that it will not."

The Washington Times approaches the case from a different view: "The question the court will address, probably starting in March, is "Whether [the laws] violate the Second Amendment rights of individuals who are not affiliated with any state-regulated militia, but who wish to keep handguns and other firearms for private use in their homes?" The answer should be "a resounding yes says the Washington Times.

For me, I need only look at the Second Amendment: The Bill of Rights lists individual rights given to us by the founders to protect us from an overbearing, oppressive central government. That takes care of the first half of the amendment. The second half states,"the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." What is all the discussion about? The DC gun ban is contrary to the Second Amendment, it infringes on individual rights and liberty by prohibiting the ownership of handguns and requiring that all long guns be kept unloaded and locked away, leaving them virtually impotent. I hope the Court does exactly what the NY Times editorial states and "render a decision respectful of the Constitution's text." For a good article on the Second Amendment read "A Nation of Cowards."