Another D.C. gun law declared unconstitutional

The Coach is Right piece which follows was posted in June of 2014. It involves a ruling in which U.S. District Judge Frederick Scullin declared the District of Columbia law against carrying firearms for personal protection, unconstitutional. Scullin wrote of the “level of scrutiny” which had been applied to 2nd Amendment cases and in particular, the D.C. ban. An “intermediate” level of scrutiny applied by judges when deciding gun law makes it easier for anti-gun legislation to pass constitutional muster. “Strict scrutiny,” however, is the standard applied by judges to other laws “that arguably infringe an enumerated Constitutional rights;” free speech legislation, for example. Application of that standard to gun control laws across the country would require finding the vast majority unconstitutional!

Just 2 weeks ago, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals applied the strict scrutiny standard to the Maryland Firearm Safety Act. As a result, the 4th Circuit remanded the law back to the lower court which had originally deemed the law constitutional, instructing that court to apply the “strict standard” of scrutiny.

The 4th Circuit ruling could mark the beginning of the end of gun control legislation, for an application of strict scrutiny will create standards virtually impossible to meet by gun control zealots in state legislatures. Of course, such a turn of events would require that judges decide 2nd Amendment cases with the same level of scrutiny applied to 1st Amendment cases; in short, rulings would have to be honest. Although this would demand a great leap of faith in the probity of the American judicial system, at least the 4th Circuit has taken the first step.

Gee, how are all those court cases coming with judges applying “intermediate” level of scrutiny to Same Sex Marriage?

On June 26, 2008, the Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Heller v. District of Columbia. The Supreme Court struck down provisions of the Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975 as unconstitutional, determined that handguns are "arms" for the purposes of the Second Amendment, found that the Regulations Act was an unconstitutional ban, and struck down the portion of the Regulations Act that requires all firearms including rifles and shotguns be kept "unloaded and disassembled or bound by a trigger lock".

And are same sex couples still waiting since 2008 to be married as are the people who want guns in DC?

What do they mean when they say "FIREARM"

You only have to follow exactly what the law says.

26 U.S. Code § 5845

(a) Firearm
(1) a shotgun having a barrel or barrels of less than 18 inches in length;
(2) a weapon made from a shotgun if such weapon as modified has an overall length of less than 26 inches or a barrel or barrels of less than 18 inches in length;
(3) a rifle having a barrel or barrels of less than 16 inches in length;
(4) a weapon made from a rifle if such weapon as modified has an overall length of less than 26 inches or a barrel or barrels of less than 16 inches in length;
(5) any other weapon, as defined in subsection (e);
(6) a machinegun;
(7) any silencer (as defined in section 921 of title 18, United States Code); and
(8) a destructive device. The term “firearm” shall not include an antique firearm or any device (other than a machinegun or destructive device) which, although designed as a weapon, the Secretary finds by reason of the
date of its manufacture, value, design, and other characteristics is primarily a collector’s item and is not likely to be used as a weapon.

(e) Any other weapon
The term “any other weapon” means any weapon or device capable of being concealed on the person from which a shot can be discharged through the energy of an explosive, a pistol or revolver having a barrel with a smooth bore designed or redesigned to fire a fixed shotgun shell, weapons with combination shotgun and rifle barrels 12 inches or more, less than 18 inches in length, from which only a single discharge can be made from either barrel without manual reloading, and shall include any such weapon which may be readily restored to fire.

Such term shall not include a pistol or a revolver having a rifled bore, or rifled bores, or weapons designed, made, or intended to be fired from the shoulder and not capable of firing fixed ammunition.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/5845

26 U.S. Code § 5845

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