Court Rules in Favor of Second Amendment Gun Right
By MARK SHERMAN
The Associated Press
Thursday, June 26, 2008; 10:45 AM
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense and hunting, the justices' first major pronouncement on gun rights in U.S. history.
The court's 5-4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia's 32-year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment. The decision went further than even the Bush administration wanted, but probably leaves most firearms laws intact.
The court had not conclusively interpreted the Second Amendment since its ratification in 1791. The amendment reads: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."
The basic issue for the justices was whether the amendment protects an individual's right to own guns no matter what, or whether that right is somehow tied to service in a state militia.
Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said that an individual right to bear arms is supported by "the historical narrative" both before and after the Second Amendment was adopted.
The Constitution does not permit "the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home," Scalia said. The court also struck down Washington's requirement that firearms be equipped with trigger locks.
In a dissent he summarized from the bench, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that the majority "would have us believe that over 200 years ago, the Framers made a choice to limit the tools available to elected officials wishing to regulate civilian uses of weapons."
He said such evidence "is nowhere to be found."
Justice Stephen Breyer wrote a separate dissent in which he said, "In my view, there simply is no untouchable constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment to keep loaded handguns in the house in crime-ridden urban areas."
Joining Scalia were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas. The other dissenters were Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter.
The capital's gun law was among the nation's strictest.
Dick Anthony Heller, 66, an armed security guard, sued the District after it rejected his application to keep a handgun at his home for protection in the same Capitol Hill neighborhood as the court.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in Heller's favor and struck down Washington's handgun ban, saying the Constitution guarantees Americans the right to own guns and that a total prohibition on handguns is not compatible with that right.
The issue caused a split within the Bush administration. Vice President Dick Cheney supported the appeals court ruling, but others in the administration feared it could lead to the undoing of other gun regulations, including a federal law restricting sales of machine guns. Other laws keep felons from buying guns and provide for an instant background check.
Scalia said nothing in Thursday's ruling should "cast doubt on long-standing prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons or the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings."
The law adopted by Washington's city council in 1976 bars residents from owning handguns unless they had one before the law took effect. Shotguns and rifles may be kept in homes, if they are registered, kept unloaded and either disassembled or equipped with trigger locks.
Opponents of the law have said it prevents residents from defending themselves. The Washington government says no one would be prosecuted for a gun law violation in cases of self-defense.
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3rd victim of S.F. road-rage shooting dies
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
(06-24) 20:12 PDT San Francisco -- The third victim of a road-rage shooting in San Francisco died Tuesday night, and police released a composite sketch of the gunman and pleaded for the public's help in solving the triple slaying.
Investigators say Anthony Bologna, 48, and his son Michael, 20, were shot and killed following a minor traffic hassle in the Excelsior district, even though the elder Bologna pulled back to allow the gunman's gray Chrysler 300M room to finish a turn onto a narrow street.
After completing the turn, the driver of the car opened fire, killing the elder Bologna and his oldest son at the scene.
Bologna's youngest son, Matthew, 16, was taken off life support at San Francisco General Hospital late Tuesday and was pronounced dead at 6:24 p.m. Police said they have an image of the suspect's car that was taken from a nearby surveillance camera.
They did not release the image. Instead, they released a photo of a car like the one in the image.San Francisco police Lt. Mike Stasko said that while detectives are moving forward on several fronts, they need the public's help in the case.
"We are just asking anybody and everybody who has information to come forward," Stasko said. "If they saw anything, anything out there, contact us."
Ninozka Baughman, the victim's sister in law, said she hopes someone comes forward to allow police to make an arrest.
"They need to put this guy behind bars - he's a danger to the community. Anybody with any information, please, please contact the Police Department."
E-mail Jaxon Van Derbeken at [email protected].
This article appeared on page B - 2 of the San*Francisco*Chronicle
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Handgun Self-Defense
America’s Biggest Secret?
Home invasions. Rapes. Carjackings. Murders. Everyday our local and national news reports that these heinous crimes are being committed all around us. What is rarely reported is the number of crimes which are prevented when people use guns in self-defense. According to research by Florida State University and other universities, an estimated 2.5 million ordinary Americans use a gun to protect themselves from criminals each year. In the majority of cases, no shots are ever fired; the mere act of wielding a weapon is enough to deter the criminal and stop the intended offense.
Even more interesting is to find out who these gun-carrying citizens are. They’re average everyday people; level-headed, responsible citizens that you would sit beside in church on Sunday or play golf with on weekends. So why are most of us stunned when we see the results of these studies?
“At first glance the statistics might seem high,” says Chris Bird, a gun-rights activist and author of the new book, “Thank God I Had a Gun: True Accounts of Self-Defense (Privateer Publications, 2007). “But you must understand the dynamics involved. For example, most people who defend themselves with a gun don’t report the incident to law enforcement officials. And unless a criminal is actually shot, you probably won’t hear about it in the news.”
A former investigative reporter, Bird believes there are additional reasons these incidents go under-reported. “Fear deters many people from reporting a self-defense confrontation,” says Bird. “Can you imagine being arrested for protecting yourself? ‘He-said, she-said’ type cases are typically left to a prosecutor’s discretion. That means the person defending himself could wind up on the wrong side of the law.”
Another factor is the location of the attempted crime. People are much more hesitant to involve the police when the incident occurs outside of their home or off their property. Laws vary from state to state, but most people don’t want to be subjected to interpretations of gun use laws that could find them at fault, even though they were protecting themselves.
Researchers at Saint Louis University have taken defensive gun use studies even further. They’ve tried to determine the impact of armed self-defense on the crime rate. According to the study, civilians kill an average of 299 felons per year (88% with guns) in cases of justifiable homicide. Based on the shooting deaths of those felons, researchers estimate that there are approximately 400,000 fewer violent crimes each year.
“One of the best-kept secrets in America is how often and effectively ordinary citizens defend themselves with firearms against a criminal attack or threat,” says Bird. “For decades, Americans have been brainwashed into taking a passive role in their own survival. "Fortunately, some citizens have ignored that advice and are taking responsibility for their own safety and survival."