New Era of Non-Gun Control ?

In June of 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller. This was a gun control case with broad, but yet unknown implications for Americans and gun ownership, possession and storage. The essential holding of that case is that the Second Amendment states a personal right of citizens to own and bear arms, not a societal one or a state militia one. The decision also found that forcing citizens to disassemble or trigger lock a gun was a denial of that right as well.

The decision bears the marks of being more political than legal in its reasoning and holdings. For example, the decision states as a given, without supporting the statement that making someone use a trigger lock is an outright denial of the right to own and bear arms. It is unknown what they based that broad statement on, because they cited no facts or evidence in the record that supported that claim. How many seconds does it take to unlock a trigger locked handgun? Suppose I keep my handgun in a combination locked safe? I can get it open, load and chamber a round in less than four seconds. How fast does gun access have to be to satisfy Second Amendment rights?

Do I have to be allowed to hang it loaded around my neck to satisfy the Constitution? Where did they get the idea that it's the same as having no gun to have to spend four seconds to be ready to fire, especially if the safety of thousands of children in households with guns is at stake?

Another troubling aspect of this case is: where is it going to lead next? Since it is now made clear that the right to "Keep and bear arms" is a personal right of Americans, where do cities and states get off banning the carrying of concealed weapons? Look for an ever expanding series of cases defining gun owner rights. This Heller decision is a floodgate. We are awaiting the floods to start as appellate cases work their way upstream. When every gun owner is allowed to slip a .25 caliber semi into his coat pocket, look for mushrooming numbers of accidental shootings as kids get a hold of them.

Big changes are in the wind. I am not as anti-gun as this blog entry may sound. I am in favor of private citizens owning guns. But consider this: though assaults and robberies may well decrease when law abiding citizens all carry guns, accidental shootings will skyrocket as these guns are more easily available to children, mentally ill people, and easily accessible for criminals to steal.

I'm not anti gun. I am anti-irresponsibility. I really don't think that the two seconds fewer it will take to arm your self with NO gun control is really worth all the deaths and injuries it will bring.