LOS ANGELES — If the Supreme Court strikes down the ability of municipalities like the District of Columbia to regulate guns, Chicago and other cities with handgun bans would see a return of gun stores and an upswing in crime, Mayor Richard Daley said Tuesday.
"That would open a Pandora's box," he said following a news conference with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to promote federal legislation requiring microstamped identifiers on cartridges fired from semiautomatic handguns.
—Michael Martin
Showing posts with label logic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label logic. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Supreme Court takes up gun rights case
As seen in the Tribune
Supreme Court takes up gun rights case
by James Oliphant
The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether Washington, D.C.'s strict ban on handguns is constitutional, perhaps setting the stage for an unprecedented public debate on gun rights and adding a volatile issue to the ongoing presidental campaign.
For gun-rights advocates, today is a red-letter day, one they've been waiting for decades.
"I'm on cloud nine," said Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation, minutes after the order from the Supreme Court was handed down Tuesday.
Gottlieb has reason to be optimistic. While the modern court hasn't ruled on the scope of the Second Amendment, its conservative majority may be inclined to make an emphatic statement about gun ownership as an individual right. And, as Gottlieb points out, the worst-case scenario -- a statement from the high court denying that such a right exists -- would galvanize the gun lobby and its supporters into furious political action during an election year.
The District of Columbia bans ownership of handguns, even in the home. The justices (the votes of four of which are necessary to decide to hear a case) will review whether such a ban infringes on residents' constitutional rights. The ruling, which likely will come in June, could have a cascade effect on similar bans across America, including one in the city of Chicago.
A federal appeals court in Washington ruled this spring that the District's ban violated the Second Amendment, forcing the city government to appeal the issue to the Supreme Court.
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