Open Carry of a Handgun inTexas

[392cobra]

RULING

The Right to Bear Arms is an INDIVIDUAL RIGHT. !!!!

[Don]

The US Supreme Court decision to be released today in the Washington DC case will impact, either positive or negative, the state laws etc etc

Conceal and Carry (CCW) Laws by State
We have put together a list of carry concealed weapon laws and organized them by state. To begin your search you can click on your state on the map below or click on your state name in the list on either side of the map.


http://carryconcealed.net/index.php

http://carryconcealed.net/legal/

[Don]

Just released........

Supreme Court strikes down handgun ban in historic ruling
By MarketWatch
Last update: 10:33 a.m. EDT June 26, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- In a major backing of gun-ownership rights, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a 32-year-old municipal ban on handguns in Washington D.C., according to media reports. The justices, in a 5-4 ruling, cited the Second Amendment in supporting the right to own guns for self-defense and hunting. The court had not conclusively ruled on the Second Amendment since 1791, according to the Associated Press.

[Roush #1]

I guess I just don't understand.....how do you get to be a Supreme Court Justice and vote against the Second Ammendment to the Constitution?
What were the four judges who voted negatively thinking? .... or better yet, what was the guy who appointed them and those that voted for them thinking?
Jody

[Bob In Ct]

Washington (AP) – 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.

[mpanten]

Originally Posted by Roush #1

I guess I just don't understand.....how do you get to be a Supreme Court Justice and vote against the Second Ammendment to the Constitution?
What were the four judges who voted negatively thinking? .... or better yet, what was the guy who appointed them and those that voted for them thinking?
Jody

The ususal suspects were the dissenters. The one that really screwed up the balance of the court was Stevens, He was a Regan appointe who either had Regan fooled or Regan did not do his homework either way it was huge blunder on Regans part. I am saddened that the vote was that close. If Gore would have won the last election we could very well be seeing mass confiscations of guns at this very moment.

[Don]

The 157 page Supreme Court decision:

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/07pdf/07-290.pdf