Alphecca

SCOTUS Review of DC Circuit Could Sidestep Central Issue

Is the right to keep and bear arms a collective or an individual "right?" Today, at Law.com, Howard J. Bashman issues a warning that if the Supreme Court takes up the DC Circuit Court's decision -- striking down DC's gun ban, -- it might not settle anything:

If the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to review the D.C. Circuit's recent decision holding that the Second Amendment confers an individual right, the High Court would first logically have to determine whether the D.C. Circuit's majority or dissenting judge was correct about whether the Second Amendment even applies to the District of Columbia.

Although I agree with the D.C. Circuit's majority that someone believing in the correctness of the "collective rights" view of the Second Amendment is more likely to conclude that the Second Amendment does not apply to D.C., it is still possible for one who takes the "individual rights" view of the Second Amendment to conclude the same.

If the D.C. Circuit's recent ruling did not include the lurking question of whether the Second Amendment applied to the District of Columbia, I'd share the enthusiasm of those who believe we are now finally on the verge of receiving a definitive answer from the U.S. Supreme Court concerning whether the "individual right" or "collective right" view of the Second Amendment is correct.

But, because the U.S. Supreme Court could resolve the case by holding that the Second Amendment does not apply to the District of Columbia, we should keep in mind that a definitive ruling on the Second Amendment's meaning is not assured even if the Supreme Court agrees to accept this case.