Guns: One Last Appeal

The big news in the gun rights world this week has been D.C.'s appeal to the Supreme Court in the Parker case, after the Court of Appeals' denial of rehearing en banc. Some speculated that the Brady bunch or other antigun groups would force the Mayor and his posse to step away from the whole conflict, fearing an opinion from the Supreme Court that would undermine gun control.

I think the Court may deny cert. If they do decide to hear the case, practically anything could happen. Federalism concerns might provide a convenient "escape route" - they could simply overturn the ban without incoporating the Second Amendment. Another way would be to narrow the decision down to the facts of this particular ban - only Chicago or New York style de facto bans might be challenged. And of course, they might simply uphold the ban.

As I've said before, regardless of your stance on gun rights or abortion, I think it's a bit disingenuous to find the right to a first-trimester abortion in the "penumbra" of other constitutional rights (Roe v. Wade), while not finding the right to possess guns for self-defense logically flowing from the Second Amendment - which has explicit wording to that effect.