Heritage Foundation's take on the DC gun ban case

The conservative Heritage Foundation has published a tract on what they think of the Supreme Court's upcoming case concerning Washington DC's gun ban. The Bush administration recently filed a brief with the Court, saying they thought it should rule that the govt still has the power to enact lots of "gun control" laws to restrict firearms in DC. A lot of gun-rights advocates weren't too happy with that.

Now the Heritage Foundation says that gun-rights advocates should be a lot happier - that the administration's position basically agrees with the fundamental idea that the American people do have the right to own and carry freely - it's not just a "right" of military groups, but a right of individuals.

Heritage also points out that, if the Supreme Court does accept the individual-rights idea, they are likely to require the government to come up with very strong reasons why gun bans should still be allowed... and that the govt is unlikely to be able to do that. Their excuse has always been that "gun control" laws make society safer. But now they would have to PROVE that in court - something they will find very difficult in the face of huge evidence to the contrary.

Sounds like this DC gun ban case, and the government's position in it, are very good news for the rights and safety of ordinary, law-abiding American citizens.

See Heritage's full report at:

http://www.heritage.org/Research/LegalIssues/upload/wm_1775.pdf

If the Supremes do decide to uphold the lower court's ruling that the DC gun ban is an unconstitutional violation of people's 2nd amendment right to own and carry guns and other such weapons, then the door will be open for people in other areas (cities, states etc.) to bring their own suits against laws restricting their gun rights too. Given the precedent that such a decision would set, it would be hard for most gun bans, permit requirements, and other such laws to stand.