Liberals Lose the Gun Wars: Supreme Court Extends More Gun Rights; Cities & States Cannot Ban or Regulate Gun Ownerships & another Washington Liberal Career Democrat Bites the Dust:
By Marc Chamot
Anti-gunners biggest fears are now realized. When cities like Washington D. C., Chicago, New York, and San Francisco embarked on their quests to ban gun ownerships, they all knew their day of reckoning was soon coming with the U.S. Supreme Court.
Anti-gunners were all warned not to enact harsh anti-constitutional gun laws; they were also told if they lost the Supreme Courts battles, it would cause adverse reactions towards future gun ownerships, people would end up buying more not less. They were warned again and again, they didn’t want to listen, but instead chose to go ahead with their draconian laws anyways, and now they’ve lost the gun wars.
And Robert Byrd epitomizes what’s wrong with our U.S. congress, career politicians, who don’t know when to quit or retire. That’s three in a row who passed away in office, Ted Kennedy, John Murtha and now Robert Byrd, all Democrats.
I don’t know much about Mr. Byrd, but as one conservative blogger put it in the past, when Ted Kennedy passed away, he came out with an excellent point, if we don’t have real term limits, then God will instill his own kind of term limits in congress.
Will Robert Byrd’s death cause another big setback for the Obama’s liberal policies, and will there be another Republican version of Scott Brown coming out of West Virginia? It’s too early to tell on future candidates, but one thing for sure, Obama and the liberals have lost big time behind Robert Byrd’s death.
"The West Virginia lawmaker was the longest-serving member of Congress in U.S. history and cast more votes than any other member since taking office in 1959.
Robert Carlyle Byrd, the West Virginia Democrat who was often called this generation's conscience of the Senate for his devotion to the system of constitutional checks and balances and the prerogatives of power, died Monday. He was 92.
Byrd, who served longer than any member of Congress in U.S. history and cast more congressional votes than anyone since taking office in January 1959, died at about 3 a.m. at Inova Hospital in Fairfax, Va., a spokesman for the family said.
He was admitted to a Washington-area hospital late last week suffering from what a spokesman said was believed to be heat exhaustion and severe dehydration as a result of the high temperatures in the capital.
Byrd, who served longer than any member of Congress in U.S. history and cast more congressional votes than anyone since taking office in January 1959, died at about 3 a.m. at Inova Hospital in Fairfax, Va., a spokesman for the family said.
He was admitted to a Washington-area hospital late last week suffering from what a spokesman said was believed to be heat exhaustion and severe dehydration as a result of the high temperatures in the capital.
In recent years, the wheelchair-bound Byrd was not as strong a presence in the Senate as he once was, making rare speaking appearances. Byrd showed up at a Senate hearing in May and read a statement cautioning colleagues against severely limiting use of the filibuster, a device he used to hold the Senate floor for 14 hours and 13 minutes in an unsuccessful filibuster of the 1964 Civil Rights Act."
The United States Supreme Court has re-affirmed our rights to bear arms. As expected, it went right down the wire between the conservative members of the high court vs. the anti-gunners liberals. And as expected, President Obama’s last Supreme Court pick Sonia Sotomayor, proved her anti-constitutional colors, by voting against gun rights. Why aren’t we surprised by Obama’s choice? Didn’t she say she was constitutional during her confirmation?The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservatives have been making VERY GOOD anti-liberal, anti-Obama and lefties calls lately, overturning restrictive campaign financing laws. And it shouldn’t stop them there, when it comes to making people pay for healthcare and possibly even, for Arizona’s enforcements on border security law SB 1070, they'll be there.
High court strikes down Chicago handgun ban
In another dramatic victory for firearm owners, the Supreme Court has ruled unconstitutional Chicago, Illinois' 28-year-old strict ban on handgun ownership, a potentially far-reaching case over the ability of state and local governments to enforce limits on weapons.
A 5-4 conservative majority of justices on Monday reiterated its two-year-old conclusion the Constitution gives individuals equal or greater power than states on the issue of possession of certain firearms for self-protection.
"It cannot be doubted that the right to bear arms was regarded as a substantive guarantee, not a prohibition that could be ignored so long as states legislated in an evenhanded manner," wrote Justice Samuel Alito.
The court grounded that right in the due process section of the 14th Amendment. The justices, however, said local jurisdictions still retain the flexibility to preserve some "reasonable" gun-control measures currently in place nationwide.
In dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer predicated far-reaching implications. "Incorporating the right," he wrote, "may change the law in many of the 50 states. Read in the majority's favor, the historical evidence" for the decision "is at most ambiguous." He was supported by Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor.
At issue was whether the constitutional "right of the people to keep and bear arms" applies to local gun control ordinances, or only to federal restrictions. The basic question had remained unanswered for decades, and gave the conservative majority on the high court another chance to allow Americans expanded weapon ownership rights.
A key question was how far the court would apply competing parts of the 14th Amendment to preserve some "reasonable" gun control measures currently in place nationwide.
The appeal was filed by a community activist in Chicago who sought a handgun for protection from gangs. Otis McDonald told CNN outside his South Side home that he wants a handgun to protect himself and his family from the violence in his neighborhood. "That's all I want, is just a fighting chance," he said. "Give me the opportunity to at least make somebody think about something before they come in my house on me."
His application for a handgun permit was denied in a city with perhaps the toughest private weapons restrictions in the nation.
The justices two years ago affirmed an individual's right to possess such weapons, tossing out restrictive laws in the federal enclave of the District of Columbia.
The larger issue is one that has polarized judges, politicians and the public for decades: do the Second Amendment's 27 words bestow gun ownership as an individual right or as a collective one -- aimed at the civic responsibilities of state militias and therefore subject, perhaps, to strict government regulation? And is that regulation limited to federal laws or can they be applied to local communities?
The amendment states: "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
Gun rights groups applauded the decision.
"Today marks a great moment in American history," said Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association. "It is a vindication for the great majority of American citizens who have always believed the Second Amendment was an individual right and freedom worth defending."
Some gun control advocates tried to put a positive spin on the opinion.
"There is nothing in today's decision that should prevent any state or local government from successfully defending, maintaining, or passing, sensible, strong gun laws," said Paul Helmke, of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
The court majority refused to limit its 2008 District of Columbia ruling. That decision offered at least partial constitutional validation to citizens seeking the right to possess one of the most common types of firearms in their homes. The Chicago ruling now extends that right significantly.
The Justice Department estimates as many as 275 million guns are in the United States. In 2005, three-quarters of the 10,100 homicides by firearms nationwide were committed with handguns.
Underpinning the legal basis for the court's jurisdiction in this appeal is a complex reading of the 14th Amendment, passed in the wake of the Civil War to ensure all citizens -- including newly freed slaves -- were protected from state laws that might restrict their fundamental rights.
Live At The Troubadour [CD / DVD Combo]
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
Live At The Troubadour [CD / DVD Combo]
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
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