Stranger things have happened, but not often. Two recent decisions by the usually hostile to the Second Amendment Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has gun owners cheering and the gun-ban lobby worried.
In a case out of Hawaii (Young v. Hawaii), READ Here, the Ninth Circuit ruled that the Second Amendment does guarantee the right to carry a gun for self defense, and it said this applied to open carry. Hawaii's restrictions on carrying a gun for self protection amount to a stranglehold, with the police deciding if your property or your life are worth protection.
The court found that this level of restriction on a fundamental constitutional right is, in fact, unconstitutional. It said:
"To summarize the history canvassed thus far: the important founding-era treatises, the probative nineteenth century case law, and the post-civil war legislative scene each reveal a single American voice. The right to
bear arms must include, at the least, the right to carry a firearm openly for self-defense."
Most of us usually would find reading a court decision to be dry and boring, but I'd suggest that in this case it's gratifying to read the logic applied as well as the total smack-down of the dissenting judge's opinion.
Only a few days after the Young case, the Ninth again surprised us by upholding an injunction preventing California from enforcing its draconian magazine ban which requires that all firearm magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds must be turned in, sent out of state, or otherwise disposed of. The mere possession of one of those standard mags could subject an otherwise law-abiding citizen to heavy fines and up to a year in prison. That law is being challenged, and a lower court issued an injunction to prevent the state from enforcing the new law until the matter is settled in court.
Now, don't go thinking that the Ninth has gone soft on its war on gun owners, but these two cases just may signal a shift of sorts in the approach to the Second Amendment. It may (just my thinking here) represent a concern on the part of the court that a new justice on the U.S. Supreme Court could open that body to reviewing gun rights cases it has rejected over the last decade. Should that happen, and I sure hope it does, California and other rights averse states could be in for a rude shock.
David French's explanation in of this case is easy reading and will bring you up to speed. READ HERE. ~ Tom
Tom Gresham
Author, outdoorsman, gun rights activist, and firearms enthusiast for more than five decades, Tom Gresham hosts Tom Gresham's Gun Talk, the first nationally-syndicated radio show about guns and the shooting sports, and is also the producer and co-host of the Guns & Gear, GunVenture and First Person Defender television series.
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