Posted on 02/11/2003 4:46:42 AM PST by SJackson
Regulations are unconstitutional; residents have the right to defend themselves in their homes
WASHINGTON - Two Cato Institute scholars announced today that they have filed a civil lawsuit in a Washington, D.C. federal court on behalf of six plaintiffs to vindicate the right of D.C. residents to defend themselves in their home. Robert A. Levy, senior fellow in constitutional studies, and Gene Healy, senior editor, joined by two other D.C.-based attorneys, argue in their complaint that "the Second Amendment guarantees individuals a fundamental right to possess a functional, personal firearm, such as a handgun ... within the home." But D.C. officials "enforce a set of laws [that] deprive individuals, including the plaintiffs, of this important right."
The Cato Institute is not itself involved in the litigation, but Cato scholars have argued consistently and vigorously that the Second Amendment guarantees the right of responsible adult citizens to keep and bear arms for self-defense. That is the same position now taken by respected legal scholars − both liberal and conservative − by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in the recent Emerson case, and by the U.S. Justice Department in friend-of-the-court briefs filed before the Supreme Court. Yet the D.C. city council, which is controlled by Congress and indisputably constrained by the Second Amendment, has enacted one of the most draconian gun bans in the nation. No handgun can be registered in the District. Even pistols registered prior to D.C.'s 1976 ban cannot be carried from room to room in the home without a license. Moreover, all firearms in the home must be unloaded and either disassembled, or bound by a trigger lock. In effect, no one in D.C. can possess a functional firearm in his or her own residence.
The lead plaintiff, Shelly Parker, resides in a high-crime neighborhood. As a result of trying to make her neighborhood a better place to live, Ms. Parker has been threatened by drug dealers. She would like to possess a handgun within her home for self-defense, but fears arrest, prosecution, incarceration, and fines because of D.C.'s unconstitutional gun ban. A second plaintiff is a Special Police Officer who carries a handgun to provide security for the Thurgood Marshall Judicial Center. But when he applied for permission to possess a handgun within his home, the D.C. government turned him down. Other plaintiffs include a gay man who has been assaulted on account of his sexual orientation, and the owner of a registered shotgun who cannot lawfully render her gun operational.
The plaintiffs are asking the federal court to prevent D.C. from barring the registration of handguns, banning the possession of functional firearms within the home, and forbidding firearms from being carried from room to room without a license. "This is not about carrying a machine gun on the streets," says Levy. "It's about having a garden-variety handgun in your own home." Healy adds that "the right to keep and bear arms includes the right to defend your property, your family, and your life. No government should be permitted to take that right away."
The lawsuit is Parker v. District of Columbia and the full text of the complaint is available at
http://www.cato.org/pubs/legalbriefs/gunsuit.pdf
The second thing supporters of the second amendment should do is start bringing lots of sustained lawsuits against the gun control statists whenever murdered individuals had been deprived of their right to bear arms. Sue people like Sara Brady and their organizations for depriving the dead and living of their constitutional rights. If the supporters of the Second Amendment don't use political or legal means to aggressively defend this right, they will lose it, or worse, have to wage an armed struggle.
I like it! Cut off the head of the serpent. This is fighting the disease, not the symptoms. The gun grabbers agenda is to always have hundreds of gun control laws introduced and keep Second Amendment defenders busy with these brush fires.
We have to cut them off at the source, fighting one major battle rather than thousands of little skirmishes.
Meaning going aggressively on the offensive rather than always being defensive after they introduce ridiculous legislation.
When we respond to their moves we give them power and are forced to fight on the battlefield of their choice.
I'm amazed, given what's happened in DC, 9/11, the snipers, terrorist threats that one of the plaintiffs is a Special Police Officer at Thurgood Marshall Justice Center, armed on the job but denied permission to have a handgun at home.
Oh boy. It sort of gives you an idea how far this country has fallen when a vigorous gun-rights group sues the government to allow handgun registration.
Only to a point. Congress gave up much of their power over DC years ago with "home rule". Many years before that, they gave up even more of their power to the federal courts. If some judge says the law is out, there is nobody in this congress with the stones to tell him it stays.
Remember congress didn’t pass D.C.’s gun laws it was the residents. The same people who elected Marion Barry over and over voted in the people who passed these laws. Congress did nothing about it when they passed these laws. They will do nothing if the laws are thrown out.
By the same token, there is nobody in this congress with the stones to tell the judge no if some judge goes the other way and says the law stays. The balance of power the founders set up has been gone for many years. We last had a real balance of powers when Andy Jackson was president.
The good news is we might get a judge who read the Constitution once or twice and rules in our favor. But those judges are few and far between. If they weren’t we wouldn’t have most of the laws we live under today.
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