> RoMunn wrote: > Bah, all the ruling says is that the SCOTUS decision overturning the DC gun > ban does not apply to the states
Nope, this is a question of law that will go to the very heart of the "judicial activism" concept. Here's why: In this case, the NRA challenged the City of Chicago and the village of Oak Park's ban on the possession of handguns. They lost due to question of "incorporation". What the hell is that? It's a very esoteric question of law that could trigger a review of ALL rulings on state's rights vs. the Constitution. The reason is this: The Supreme Court has held on several occasions that the Second Amendment (guns) does not apply to states: * U.S. v. Cruikshank in 1876 * Presser v. Illinois in 1886, and * Miller v. Texas in 1894 In other words, SCOTUS has upheld states rights to make laws as they see fit when it comes to guns. Since then, however, SCOTUS has also used the concept of selective incorporation to apply various pieces of the Bill of Rights AGAINST state's rights via the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; but SCOTUS *hasn't* used yet used that concept with gun laws. What complicates things with guns is that 2 circuit appeals courts have ruled this year, but reached totally separate conclusions: * Nordyke v. King, 9th Circuit 2009, used selective incorporation approach * Maloney v. Cuomo, 2nd Circuit 2009, deferred to the Supreme Court (Sotomayor's ruling!!) And now we've got a third ruling: * NRA v. City of Chicago, 7th Circuit 2009, also deferring to SCOTUS like the 2nd did in Maloney. In their ruling, Posner and Easterbrook said that the Constitution sets forth a system whereby local governments can adopt different laws. Easterbrook wrote that, Federalism is an older and more deeply rooted tradition than is a right to carry any particular kind of weapon. So you're quite wrong in your assessment. It's going to get ugly. F ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:298117 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
