The Consitution has prevailed but just barely.  It is issues such as 
this that point out why folks like Kagan should never be comfirmed and 
liberals like Obama should never be elected...  


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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2010/06/28/AR2010062802134_pf.html


Gun rights extended by Supreme Court

By MARK SHERMAN
The Associated Press
Monday, June 28, 2010; 10:46 AM 



WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court held Monday that the Constitution's 
Second Amendment restrains government's ability to significantly limit 
"the right to keep and bear arms," advancing a recent trend by the John 
Roberts-led bench to embrace gun rights. 

By a narrow, 5-4 vote, the justices also signaled, however, that some 
limitations on the right could survive legal challenges. 

Writing for the court in a case involving restrictive laws in Chicago 
and one of its suburbs, Justice Samuel Alito said that the Second 
Amendment right "applies equally to the federal government and the 
states." 

(Photos from a Patriot's Day gun rights rally) 

The court was split along familiar ideological lines, with five 
conservative-moderate justices in favor of gun rights and four liberals 
opposed. Chief Justice 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 a 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, 
ordering a federal appeals court to reconsider its ruling. But it left 
little doubt that they would eventually fall. 

Still, Alito noted that the declaration that the Second Amendment is 
fully binding on states and cities "limits (but by no means eliminates) 
their ability to devise solutions to social problems that suit local 
needs and values." 

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