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Articles
Supreme Court Close to Hearing Most Important Gun Case of our Time
By Martin Green, Deputy Chief of Staff
February 11, 2008
This column was first published by the KPC Media Group in the News-Sun (Noble & LaGrange Counties), the Evening Star (DeKalb County), and the Herald-Republican (Steuben County).
A major case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court could have wide-ranging implications for how the Second Amendment to the Constitution is interpreted in the years ahead.
Known as District of Columbia (D.C.) v. Heller, the case involves whether a 32-year-old law passed by the D.C. Council is constitutional, and, more important, whether Americans’ right to keep and bear arms is an individual or collective right. Gun owners across the nation, as well as gun control groups, are following the case closely.
Washington, D.C., has had the most restrictive gun control laws in the United States since 1976, when its council passed a law effectively banning handgun ownership and severely restricting rifle and shotgun ownership inside the capital city.
Last March, the U.S. Court of Appeals struck down D.C.’s gun control law, ruling it unconstitutional. The city appealed the court’s decision, and the Supreme Court determined in November that it would hear the case this term.
Considering the last time the Supreme Court decided a Second Amendment-related case was in 1939, D.C. v. Heller will likely be the most important Second Amendment case of our time.
As a strong believer in the right to keep and bear arms, Congressman Mark Souder has been heavily involved with the case. He is the lead House Republican on an amicus brief arguing that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms — as opposed to just a collective right, which is the position of gun control groups.
The brief, which the National Rifle Association has endorsed, traces instances throughout history when Congress has explicitly affirmed that the Second Amendment protects an individual right. The brief concludes that the Supreme Court should uphold the appellate court’s decision and overturn D.C.’s gun ban.
Due to Mark Souder’s effective advocacy, 250 House members and 55 Senators — a majority of Congress — joined together to file this important document with the Supreme Court. They took a strong stand in support of the Second Amendment.
By comparison, only a handful of congressmen (17 Democrats) filed a brief in support of the D.C. gun ban. These politicians believe that the Second Amendment is intended solely for militias, such as the National Guard, and should not apply to individual Americans.
The Bush Administration unfortunately chose to file a disappointing brief. While the solicitor general argued in the administration’s brief that the Second Amendment does protect an individual right, he decided not to endorse either side in D.C. v. Heller and asked the Supreme Court to send the case back for a rehearing. Most discouraging, the Bush Administration did not make the case that the Second Amendment is a fundamental right.
As mentioned earlier, the Supreme Court hasn’t decided a gun case since Franklin Delano Roosevelt was President, so no one knows for certain how any of the nine justices will vote. That being said, with an expected split between the court’s four liberal and four conservative justices, it’s likely that Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy will once again be the swing vote.
Taking this issue to the Supreme Court was always a risky strategy. Indeed, Congressman Souder did not originally support challenging D.C.’s law in court because of the potential for harmful national consequences. Rather, he wanted Congress to change D.C.’s law, and he introduced legislation to do exactly that. But now that the case is before the highest court in the land, Mark Souder is fighting hard to ensure that gun owners’ rights are represented.
Martin Green is Congressman Souder’s deputy chief of staff, based in Washington, D.C.
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