Good:

McCain: Chicago Gun Ban Infringes On Rights

What say you, Barack? Like most other things that are politically inconvenient, are you going to throw your gun-banning ways under the bus?

DC’s Attorney General is already getting his ‘reasonable restrictions’ on:

Among the likely regulations: Gun owners would have to be 18 or older and could not have been convicted of a felony or any weapon-related charge or have been in a mental hospital for the past five years. Registrants also will be finger-printed and required to pass a written test to be sure they understand the city’s gun laws, Nickles said.

At least initially, he added, residents would be limited to one handgun apiece. The city will set up a hotline for firearm registrations.

Wow, DC is the gift that keeps on giving. Your government is truly a gift.

The most important bit: The Heller decision is not the call of victory, but a call to battle.

Heh: DC ban struck down; bloggers run out of clever Heller headlines

Room to work.

My sources say Fenty is already laying down the law:

Semi-autos still banned (well, DC law classifies them as MGs)

No guns outside of home

Update: here:

Mayor Fenty has directed the Police Department to begin an orderly process for licensing handguns to citizens for home defense. Before you may lawfully possess a firearm, handgun or not, it must be licensed.

There must be a process within 21 days to register new handguns. During that time, the old law remains in effect. You MAY NOT POSSESS A HANDGUN INSIDE YOUR HOME at this time.

The City Council will be working with the Mayor to create effective regulations for storing firearms in your home.

I’d leave off that last bit. It’s what got you into trouble in the first place.

Codrea:

This is pretty much the outcome most of us expected–an individual rights ruling that leaves the door open for gun control

And also leaves the door open for challenging existing gun controls.

Short version: Even though these windmills keep kicking our asses, we will continue to charge them.

So send money!!!!! Getting your ass kicked is expensive.

Barack did I say that Obama: I didn’t mean all that stuff I said about supporting gun bans.

I keep seeing folks take issue with:

Because Heller conceded at oral argument that the D. C. licensing law is permissible if it is not enforced arbitrarily and capriciously, the Court assumes that a license will satisfy his prayer for relief and does not address the licensing requirement. Assuming he is not disqualified from exercising Second Amendment rights, the District must permit Heller to register his handgun and must issue him a license to carry it in the home.

Like Kevin.

Stop freaking out. The court is stating appropriate relief and specifically stating that they’re not addressing the requirement.

Remember, Heller was very narrowly tailored on purpose.

Now, don’t you feel silly!

Josh Sugarmann: WAAAAAAAH!!!!

Here

Audio to come at DRTV.

I started to read the dissents. Then stopped. Maybe later. Why ruin a good mood by ingesting all that fucking stupidity. I’d have to shower after.

In other news, 5-4 was bit too close for comfort in my opinion. I was figuring on 6-3 or 7-2, honestly. Sure, this quiz was pass/fail but we were only one heart attack away, my friends. I hate to say it but that one reason is why I’ll hold my nose, get good and hammered, and pull the lever for John McCain. And I’d have to shower after that too.

It is enough to note, as we have observed, that the American people have considered the handgun to be the quintessential self-defense weapon.

That term is used on page 55. First, all weapons are dangerous. I mean, I don’t want to be on the business end of either a pointy stick or a 44 magnum. Unusual is quite odd too.

Additionally:

We also recognize another important limitation on the
right to keep and carry arms. Miller said, as we have
explained, that the sorts of weapons protected were those
“in common use at the time.” 307 U. S., at 179. We think
that limitation is fairly supported by the historical tradition
of prohibiting the carrying of “dangerous and unusual
weapons.” See 4 Blackstone 148–149 (1769); 3 B. Wilson,
Works of

What about laws that have been passed specifically to make certain weapons not in common use at the time? Think 1986?

Update: I should have read the next graph:

It may be objected that if weapons that are most useful
in military service—M-16 rifles and the like—may be
banned, then the Second Amendment right is completely
detached from the prefatory clause. But as we have said,
the conception of the militia at the time of the Second
Amendment’s ratification was the body of all citizens
capable of military service, who would bring the sorts of
lawful weapons that they possessed at home to militia
duty. It may well be true today that a militia, to be as
effective as militias in the 18th century, would require
sophisticated arms that are highly unusual in society at
large.

And:

But the fact that modern developments have limited
the degree of fit between the prefatory clause and the
protected right cannot change our interpretation of the
right.

Nice:

Some have made the argument, bordering on the frivolous, that only those arms in existence in the 18th century are protected by the Second Amendment. We do not interpret constitutional rights that way. Just as the First Amendment protects modern forms of communications,

The amendment means what it says, who knew?

From the Heller opinion:

The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.

Affirmed.

More as I get it.

Update: The Court has released the opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller (07-290), on whether the District’s firearms regulations – which bar the possession of handguns and require shotguns and rifles to be kept disassembled or under trigger lock – violate the Second Amendment. The ruling below, which struck down the provisions in question, is affirmed.

Justice Scalia wrote the opinion. Justice Breyer dissented, joined by Justices Stevens, Souter and Ginsburg. We will provide a link to the decision as soon as it is available.

Update 2: 5-4? Srsly?

So much for speculation that Ginsburg was on our side.

Update: 3 opinions. One for, two dissents.

Update: awaiting opinion. Details will matter.

Update: Opinion here.

Later kids. Off to read.

Update: Thanks to Mr. Levy and Mr. Gura. It’s a good day.

R. Neal on Heller:

In other words, we may finally know what “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State” means, and whether “the people” means you and me or us. (“Shall not be infringed” seems pretty clear.)

Actually, I think we’ll probably be spending the next several decades arguing over exactly what Shall not be infringed means.

My prediction:

Court says there is an individual right.

DC’s ban violates that right.

Some vague reference to reasonable restrictions without offering any guidance on those. Hence, we spend the next several decades arguing over exactly what Shall not be infringed means.

Brady’s claim victory. NRA claims victory.

Anti-gunners and editorial boards (but I repeat myself) yammer on about activist judges overturning 70 years of supreme court precedent, even though that precedent doesn’t exist.

Update: Oh yeah, and lawsuits filed in NYC and Chicago tomorrow.

A new (to me) gun blog: Politics, Guns and Beer.

Update: I guess all the pessimists are reading this early. Buck up, little campers.

Machine guns and grenades from the US flood Mexico. Trouble is, those are illegal here too. It’s a trend of the Mexican government to blame the US for all it’s gun issues even though it’s obvious the machine guns are not coming from here.

You know what would keep our guns out of Mexico, though? A fence.

So, Mayor of Atlanta attaches her name to some astro-turf generated by Mayors Against Guns as evidenced at the bottom of the page:

Shirley Franklin is mayor of Atlanta. Contributing to this column were: Tom Barrett, mayor of Milwaukee; Manuel A. Diaz, mayor of Miami; Gavin Newsom, mayor of San Francisco; Greg Nickels, mayor of Seattle; and Douglas H. Palmer, mayor of Trenton, N.J.

This bit of astroturf basically says OMG Heller will be the end of gun laws!

AJC blog links to it. Comments overwhelmingly tell the mayor her astroturf is wrong. Comments are shut down. Nice!

Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam is a member of this group as well. This group is clearly on the wrong side.

Kristen Rand of the Violence Policy Center lying.

I wonder if she’s googled up a study lately?

At about 10:00, her and Mr. Sugarmann might be busy as one of the few FFL holders in DC. Someone will have to do those firearms transfers.

Ralph Nader decides to point out that Barack Pinto Beans Obama talks white. Nader, who doesn’t really have a career these days save for the quadrennial 15 minutes of fame in which he complains we don’t pay attention to him, doesn’t really have a need to view this as a career-ending move.

Obama responds by saying: Ralph has nahh idea what he’s jivin’ about, you know das right! knowwhuti’msayin’?

No, I kid. They said they’re disappointed in Ralph. Then they reminded supporters that Barack, in fact, does like mayonnaise.

Homicides up 12.7% in gun free Chicago!

A 16 year-old can’t have a handgun in NJ.

Another mass shooting in a gun free zone.

And in gun free Japan, a man slaughters his family. With a hammer.

Seen at Bane’s:

Paul Erhardt, Erhardt & Associates: “Handgun competition shooters now outnumber shotgun competition shooters…competition shooters are the super-users…hunters may be very avid, but they’re not going to shoot a lot during the season…Todd Jarrett, in preparing for the Steel Challenge, will shoot 30,000 rounds of ammunition…to give you an idea of how many rounds USPSA shooters might shoot, based on their most recent classifier scores, the rough but conservative estimate is that in the last 60 days those 20000 classifier scores amount more than a million rounds downrange…16,000 members of USPSA spent approxmately $45 million just on that sport last year

Ninja sighting in New Jersey.

No Heller for you. Come back one day. Or in the Fall. We’ll get around to it.

This is like the third time I’ve anxiously watched SCOTUSBlog and, after a tense build up, nothing happened. It’s like dating.

Update: The Chief Justice has announced from the courtroom that the Court will issue all of its remaining opinions tomorrow at 10 a.m. Eastern

Statement here:

The NSSF has no intention of abandoning pistol shooters. Our very successful First Shots program is specifically designed and targeted to encourage pistol sports shooting. Much of the NSSF staff, including its new president, have been pistol shooting both recreationally and competitively for decades – and, in fact, some have worked in the handgun industry.

Good! Hats off to these guys.