In what will certainly become a controversial decision, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Washington D.C.'s ban on handguns this morning, declaring for the first time that the Constitution protects an individual’s right to possess a gun, not just the right of the states to maintain militias:
Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority in the landmark 5-to-4 decision, said the Constitution does not allow “the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home.” In so declaring, the majority found that a gun-control law in the nation’s capital went too far in making it nearly impossible to own a handgun.
But the court held that the individual right to possess a gun “for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home” is not unlimited. “It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose,” Justice Scalia wrote.
The decision is the first since 1939 to deal with the scope of the Second Amendment. In his dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that the majority “would have us believe that over 200 years ago, the framers made a choice to limit the tools available to elected officials wishing to regulate civilian uses of weapons.”
So how will this affect Chicago's gun-control laws, which were similar to DC's and have been in place since 1982? According to the Tribune, llinois gun-rights activists have said they expect to mount a quick legal challenge to the Chicago Weapons Ordinance. Mayor Daley responded this morning:
An angry Mayor Richard Daley on Thursday called the Supreme Court's overturning of the Washington D.C. gun ban "a very frightening decision" and vowed to fight vigorously any challenges to Chicago's ban.
The mayor, speaking at a Navy Pier event, said he was sure mayors nationwide, who carry the burden of keeping cities safe, will be outraged by the decision.
The city had filed an amicus brief in the case in support of DC's law:
In Chicago's brief, lawyers argued state and local rules regulating firearms are constitutional and have had popular support. Chicago's ordinances resemble those of D.C., lawyers for the city acknowledged.
"Chicago, like other big cities, has a compelling interest in reducing crime related to firearms," the brief states. "Chicago Police Department statistics show that from 2004 to November 2007 there were 43,685 firearms-related violent crimes in the city."
The decision will have ramifications on the presidential race, too. An unnamed aide for Barack Obama, who was a great advocate of the gun-control community while in Springfield, told the Tribune last year that Obama believed the DC ban to be constitutional. Now, switching into general election mode, the campaign reports "that statement was obviously an inartful attempt to explain the Senator's consistent position." ABC News explains:
When Obama has been asked on multiple occasions to weigh in on the D.C. gun case he has regularly maintained that the Second Amendment provides an individual right while at the same time saying that right is not absolute and that the Constitution does not prevent local governments from enacting what Obama calls "common sense laws."
UPDATED: WBEZ has the audio of Daley's reaction.
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