Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Analysis of Moore v. Madigan

David Kopel over at Volokh has a good, detailed analysis of the 7th Circuit overturning of Illinois' law banning firearm carry:
Moreover, Posner writes, the main purpose of Kachalsky’s inside/outside distinction was to justify intermediate scrutiny for restrictions on guns outside the home. In Madigan, “our analysis is not based on degrees of scrutiny, but on Illinois’s failure to justify the most restrictive gun law of any of the 50 states.” [Study tip for law students: 3-tier scrutiny doesn't explain everything. If a government prohibited everyone from speaking out loud in public places, a court does not need to use strict or intermediate scrutiny to decide if the ban is constitutional. Blanket bans on speaking in public places are per se void, and so are blanket bans on bearing arms in public places.]
I'm surprised at how well, duh all this legal analysis is.  The Left has twisted itself into knots to "prove" that the Constitution doesn't say what it plainly says.  The courts are now saying that up is up and down is down (and that "keep and bear" is "keep and bear").  Sanity is a refreshing change.

I'll be very interested to see how the Illinois Legislature handles this with the 180 day stay.  A sizable majority of the Legislators voted to allow concealed carry, so there's a decently strong bloc of support.  But what's interesting is that the laws prohibiting the carry of firearms will be void come next June.  If enough Legislators choose to do nothing, then no replacement law will pass and there will be no laws prohibiting open or concealed carry.  This has put a possible minority view in a very strong position.  It would be cool to see the Illinois gun grabbers hoist on their own petard, with their insanely restrictive outright ban leading to Constitutional Carry.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Potentially great news for citizens of Madiganistan. We'll have to see how the powers-that-be try to twist the ruling. However, I'm still going to be looking for some good concealed carry training classes.

Anonymous said...

Well in an ideal world none of us would have guns except for skeet shooting or maybe hunting, however when your government is run by sociopaths and you have more insane people per square mile than any other country and those are just your neighbours maybe owning a gun might just be a good idea.

Talitha said...

@Kennison:

I humbly suggest Deb's Gun Shop in Hammond, Indiana. It's not too far from Chi-town, and the folks have a good selection, and the shop's name sake is a multi-award winning sharp shooter. Some of their regulars are Retired Chicago Police folk who still like to bear arms... and despite the City's reputation, are mighty fine folk when it comes to political conversation, too.

If you are feel like taking a nostalgic trip into Chicago history, you can even fire a tommy gun! Bonus points for acquiring extra large portraits of your favorite Chicago politicians. ;-)

Once you have saited your desire to fill paper targets with holes, you can mosey on down to the Fifth Ammendment Bar and Grill, which is just down the street.

TOTWTYTR said...

I fully expect the state to appeal to SCOTUS and ask for a stay until the court decides whether or not to grant cert.

Between this and the Maryland case requiring substantial reason for a CCW permit, there might be enough interest for the Supreme Court to take up the two cases.

Or maybe not and the decision will be binding in the 7th Circuit and persuasive in other Circuits.

Six said...

This is going to be interesting to watch. It's at the state and local level where conservatives and libertarians will begin the long march back to influence and, dare I say it, control once again.