Noted attorney and 2A hero Alan Gura is presently on Glenn Beck's TV show talking about the Chicago gun ban case that was just granted cert. by the USSC.
They just finished talking about the particulars of the case, and are getting ready to start talking states rights on the issue when they return from break.
My take on this is that while the 2A was originally binding only on the fedgov, with passage of the 14th amendment, right or wrong, it should be binding on the states.
Anyway, they're back on now....
Gura's take: Same as mine. 14th amendment provides for application to the states.
This should be an interesting case. If the SC finds for Gura et al, then that opens up a whole can of worms all around the country. From NYFC and the Sullivan Law to Denver and their idiotic AWB, to Massachussets stupid gun laws and all points in between. The coming months should fun.
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I know virtually no one that matters agrees with me on this, but I've always been of the opinion that the founders obviously intended the second amendment to apply to the states and not the first.
For one thing, a few of the states already had official state religions at the time of the founding.
For another, the First Amendment specifically says "congress shall make no law..."
The Second Amendment contains no such caveat. The operative clause says simply and plainly "the right...shall not be infringed."
The founders were not stupid and they put a lot of thought (and debate) into the wording of each and every article and amendment to the Constitution. I simply do not thing it's possible that this was an oversight.
I think it is pretty clear that the first amendment was only intended to limit federal government power, whereas the second amendment was intended to protect the right to keep and bear arms from infringement by any level of government.
IMHO.
What I've come to understand was that until the 14th amendment was ratified, local and state governments could do just about anything they wanted. The BoR were limits placed on federal power and placed none on the powers of the states.
Ratification of the 14th amendment should have ended the debate, but instead we've had successive courts applying it piecemeal to the BoR instead of blanket across the board.
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