Alphecca

DC Gun Rights Briefs

Another brief has been released, this one by Robert A. Levy, Ph.D., J.D of the CATO Institute who supports the Second Amendment rights of DC residents, although he would prefer it first be decided by the courts. Here's a quote:

To vindicate the Second Amendment rights of D.C. residents, and guarantee that those rights will be permanently secured, a constitutional challenge to the District's gun laws should be brought in a federal court where there is no adverse judicial precedent. Preferably, the challenge should be civil, not criminal; filed by sympathetic, law-abiding plaintiffs who simply want a gun in their home for self-defense.

In fact, such a case is now pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In February 2003, three local attorneys and I filed a civil lawsuit in Washington, D.C.'s federal court on behalf of six D.C. residents who want to be able to defend themselves in their own homes. The litigation, Parker v. District of Columbia, is not about machine guns and assault weapons. It's about the right to own ordinary, garden-variety handguns. Nor do the plaintiffs argue for the right to carry a gun outside the home. That's another question for another day. This case is about a pistol in the home for self-defense.

Off and on over the years, Washington, D.C. has reclaimed its title as the nation's murder capital. Yet, the D.C. government has been feckless in disarming violent criminals. At the same time, however, it has done a superb job of disarming decent, peaceable residents.