SCOTUS Will Decide Whether
the Right to Bear Arms
Extends Beyond Your Doorstep
Townhall.com,
by
Jacob Sullum
Original Article
Posted By: DW626,
4/28/2021 6:50:27 AM
While it may seem obvious that the constitutional right to "keep and bear arms" extends beyond the home, federal courts have been debating that question for years. This week, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that could finally settle the issue, which the petitioners call "perhaps the single most important unresolved Second Amendment question." The case involves a New York law that requires applicants for handgun carry licenses to show "proper cause," which according to state courts means more than a "generalized desire" to "protect one's person and property."
Reply 1 - Posted by:
PChristopher 4/28/2021 7:00:35 AM (No. 769282)
This sort of thing was struck down in Maryland years ago. Why are they doing it again!?
17 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
WhamDBambam 4/28/2021 7:18:17 AM (No. 769295)
It has become immaterial to me what the current so-called "Supreme Court" has to say on this subject. I conduct my activities without regard to their increasingly Olympian pronouncements on the subjects that they even dare address.
47 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
PostAway 4/28/2021 7:30:58 AM (No. 769307)
What might the following add up to? •Defunding the police •disarming the populace •loosening drug laws while helping foreign gangs to enter the country illegally •giving them private lodging and thousands of dollars upon arrival
Our political class are murderous thugs. The 2nd amendment is not an ink spot but vital and is our greatest asset in fighting tyranny. I suspect #1, that your question is rhetorical.
29 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Venturer 4/28/2021 7:37:41 AM (No. 769313)
I don't expect anything good to come from this.
Not with the Supreme Court.
19 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Strike3 4/28/2021 8:10:47 AM (No. 769347)
They have this backwards. Our God-Given right to defend ourselves places the cowardly Supreme Court in the same league as roaches under our feet. Do not test our resolve.
21 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
oldmagnolia 4/28/2021 8:11:52 AM (No. 769349)
The Supreme Joke should read the Constitution,
25 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
ROLFNader 4/28/2021 8:20:09 AM (No. 769357)
Uh, no- they won't...
6 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Clinger 4/28/2021 8:20:18 AM (No. 769358)
And next on their agenda will be to determine if water is wet.
Just how are we supposed to achieve "the security of a free state" from inside our homes? Just how is disarming me outside of my home not infringing? And this needs to get past the 4th grade let alone all other courts up to the supreme court?
14 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Dodge Boy 4/28/2021 8:48:48 AM (No. 769395)
The SCOTUS lacks any authority to tell me where I can't bear arms especially if its review is based on corrupted case law.
17 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
bad-hair 4/28/2021 9:04:25 AM (No. 769411)
It's really quite simple to those who read and comprehend English, KEEP means at home and BEAR means take it with you.
19 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
spacer 4/28/2021 9:04:39 AM (No. 769412)
SCOTUS has ceased to be a constitutional arbiter. It is no longer the law of the land and any ruling against the simple wording of out Bill of Rights is to be ignored.
8 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
hoosierblue 4/28/2021 9:04:55 AM (No. 769414)
On this matter, the Supreme Court can kiss my arse.
11 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
HotRod 4/28/2021 9:32:01 AM (No. 769446)
The issue was settled when the Constitutional Amendment spelled it out. Then, we have over two hundred years of precedent.
Americans will never allow some biased judges in black robes to overturn that!
6 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
MickTurn 4/28/2021 9:53:56 AM (No. 769486)
SCOTUS needs to READ the 2nd Amendment...'SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED' means just that and nothing more!
8 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Italiano 4/28/2021 10:07:00 AM (No. 769509)
Thank you SCOTUS, but the Founding Fathers already decided.
7 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
TLCary 4/28/2021 10:10:45 AM (No. 769513)
Reading the 2nd Amendment over and over and I can’t find this doorstep stuff.
11 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
DVC 4/28/2021 11:18:08 AM (No. 769581)
"Bearing" is not limited to your home, very, very clearly.
8 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
Jesuslover54 4/28/2021 11:20:21 AM (No. 769584)
So is it suggested that not being allowed to go outside with your guns is not an infringement?
4 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
DVC 4/28/2021 12:15:15 PM (No. 769644)
The Heller SCOTUS decision, from 2008, clarified that the District of Columbia, in the particular instance, could not prohibit ownership of handguns in the home, and could not require that they be disassembled, trigger locked or otherwise made unavailable for self defense in the home. The point was clearly made in Heller that firearms rights are individual rights that have no bearing on or requirement for militia membership, although they also specifically restated the law that says that all able bodied males are already members of the unorganized militia. The clear restating of "firearms rights are individual rights" (not militia rights) was a VERY important thing in Heller. Up until then many had argued that there were NO individual firearms rights, ONLY militia rights. That argument was destroyed.
Two years later, SCOTUS held in McDonald that firearms rights are individual rights and that the Second Amendment does apply to state laws, not only to federal laws. This struck down handgun ownership bans in Chicago and other Illinois cities.
It also led to a federal judge ruling that Illinois' subjective standards ("may issue") concealed carry law was unconstitutional and he would strike it down. He stayed his own order for 90 days in order to give the Illinois legislature time to enact an objective standards ("shall issue") concealed carry law. The law was enacted, and it is now as easy to get a CCW license in Illinois as in most other states.
But other federal judges have upheld states subjective standards concealed carry laws, putting multiple federal circuits in conflict. This puts pressure on SCOTUS to rectify the situation. For the last 13 years, 2nd Amendment rights have been increasingly firmed up and made more clearly to conform to the obvious, clear intent of the Founders when they wrote those simple sentences.
So, the next point in the clarification (rehabilitation) of the 2nd Amendment is to look at whether all the laws which limit self defense outside the home are legal, just like Heller looked at whether laws which limited self defense inside the home were legal. Heller found those laws unconstitutional, and McDonald extended that to state laws, since Heller was in DC clouding the state issue.
I tend to think that things are continuing to move in favor of the proper interpretation of the 2nd Amendment. And, Roberts voted with the majority in both Heller and McDonald so it wouldn't be unusual for him, regardless of his other leftist votes, to continue his support for the 2nd Amendment.
But....who really knows? I hope for a 6-3 decision in favor of the 2nd Amendment.
5 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
bad-hair 4/28/2021 12:28:39 PM (No. 769650)
So apparently if I go outside my home with a wifle to hunt me down a waskely wabbit for stew I am in violation of the second amendment ??
2 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
janjan 4/28/2021 12:58:21 PM (No. 769687)
No, I don’t think the SCOTUS will decide this.
2 people like this.
I'm always concerned that the focus may shift to the definition of "arms." What if it's eventually ruled that nothing developed beyond the creation of the Bill of Rights is legal? Clubs, knives, and flintlocks are okay, but no revolvers or other semi-automatics.
1 person likes this.
I am a good shooter. I can shoot from my doorstep.
1 person likes this.
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