Posted on 03/09/2007 2:49:47 PM PST by cougar_mccxxi
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Friday overturned the District of Columbia's longstanding handgun ban, issuing a decision that will allow the city's citizens to have working firearms in their homes.
In the ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected city officials' arguments that the Second Amendment right to bear arms only applied to state militias.
District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty told reporters Friday afternoon that the District will appeal the ruling.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
"We're going to have to take one step at a time, and the first step is necessarily -- given the political realities -- going to be very modest ...
So then we'll have to start working again to strengthen the law, and then again to strengthen the next law, and maybe again and again.
Right now, though, we'd be satisfied not with half a loaf but with a slice.
Our ultimate goal -- total control of handguns in the United States -- is going to take time ....
The first problem is to slow down the increasing number of guns being produced and sold in this country.
The second problem is to get handguns registered. And the final problem is to make the possession of *all* handguns and *all* handgun ammunition -- except for the military, policemen, licensed security guards, licensed sporting clubs, and licensed gun collectors -- totally illegal."
-- Pete Shields, Chairman Emeritus, Handgun Control, Inc. ( "The New Yorker", July 26, 1976 )
Much more...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1798239/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1798238/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1798214/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1798063/posts
It's fitting thqt a federal court in Washington, the seat of government, upholds the Constitution.
Fitting? Yes. But surprising as all get out too. And not just any federal court, but the "first among equals" DC Court of Appeals.
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