Don't Go Buying a Gun Just Yet
So there we have it -- the U.S. Supreme Court finally issued a definitive ruling on what the Second Amendment actually means. But what will it mean for the District in a more practical sense? For now, not much.
At the big press conference at noon, Mayor Adrian Fenty made the following remarks:
“I’m disappointed in the Court’s ruling and believe introducing more handguns into the District will mean more handgun violence,” said Mayor Fenty. “But I want to emphasize that at this moment, our gun laws remain in effect. It may be several weeks before there are changes to announce."
In an earlier interview with D.C. Wire, Interim D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles also warned District residents not to rush out and buy themselves handguns under the assumption that it's now fair game:
[Nickles] said that residents will not be able to buy a handgun and bring it to the city immediately following the high court's ruling. There will be a period of continued legal arguments before a lower court judge to hash out specifics around the high court's opinion, Nickles said. In the meantime, Nickles said, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's administration will instruct the police department to issue new regulations within 30 days detailing the process for registering handguns.Residents will eventually be able to own a handgun, but not without jumping through a number of hoops (registration and writing test included) and not for use outside the home. And for those of you who bought fancy holsters, return them -- it's pretty unlikely that any new regulations will include permission to carry that handgun to the park, to a restaurant, or to work.
The ruling makes clear that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to own a gun, but even majority opinion author Justice Antonin Scalia admitted that regulations on handgun ownership are permissible. In that sense, the ruling may be good news for the District and other urban areas. Gone is the big philosophical and historical argument about what the founders really intended, replaced instead with a more fine-tuned debate over what types of restrictions are necessary for particular areas.
The NRA has already announced its intention to challenge gun restrictions in other cities, but hopefully the courts will allow municipalities across the country the flexibility to determine what types of restrictions -- though not outright bans -- best serve their purposes. If the First Amendment is subject to various restrictions, so is the Second Amendment. If shouting fire in the 9:30 Club is punishable by law, it's not much of a stretch to argue that carrying a handgun into the club should be too. Of course, any new regulations would have to be approved by Congress, and we know how often they respect local decisions. Sigh.