Judges open fire at US gun control laws



This was published 13 years ago

Judges open fire at US gun control laws

By Ian Munro in New York and Anne Davies in Washington

A FORTNIGHT ago the Mayor of Washington, Adrian Fenty, instructed his police to set up roadblocks and search everyone entering the suburb of Trinidad, three kilometres from the White House.

There had been 22 murders in Trinidad in the first five months of this year. Most were drive-by shootings associated with the drug trade.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that the District of Columbia's ban on handguns, introduced in 1976, was unconstitutional. The five-four landmark ruling was the first time the Supreme Court had clarified what the curiously worded second amendment meant. The majority concluded that the "right to bear arms" extended to the individual, not just the right of states to maintain militias, like state guards and police forces.

The ruling came one day after a Kentucky man shot dead five colleagues because he was reprimanded by a supervisor.

But while the Supreme Court was prepared to strike down the district's blanket ban on owning a handgun as invalid because it interfered with the lawful right of citizens to defend themselves, it has left open the way for states to continue to prevent criminals and the mentally ill owning guns and to stop guns being carried into sensitive areas such as schools and government buildings.


Professor Laurence Tribe, of Harvard Law School, said the ruling offered something for both sides of the debate. "It's only the two extremes who have any reason to be disappointed," Professor Tribe said.

"One extreme is those who say there is no individual right, which may be good policy but is not consistent with the constitution. The other extreme is that the right to bear arms is absolute and not subject to regulation, which is also not consistent with the constitution."

Several states will now have to move - pronto - to overhaul their laws to focus on registration rather than prohibition.

Some cities, notably Chicago and San Francisco, have virtually banned handguns. New York also has tough laws.

The National Rifle Association is expected to use the ruling to attack the laws in these cities. "I consider this the opening salvo in a step-by-step process of providing relief for law-abiding Americans everywhere that have been deprived of this freedom," Wayne LaPierre, executive vice-president of the association, said. The gun ruling is also likely to play out in the presidential race. The Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, supported strict gun controls when he was in the Illinois legislature. After the ruling he said: "I have always believed the second amendment protects the right of individuals to bear arms, but I identify with the need for crime-ravaged communities to save their children from violence that plagues the streets through commonsense, effective safety measures.

"As president, I will uphold the constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners … and sportsmen. I know what works in Chicago may not work in Cheyenne. We can work together to enact commonsense laws … so guns do not fall into the hands of terrorists or criminals."

That is unlikely to satisfy his rival, the Republican John McCain. Senator McCain had earlier signed a brief supporting the case that the DC ban was an infringement of the constitution. On Thursday, he issued a statement reminding voters that Senator Obama had refused to do so.

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