Next week this blog turns 18 (!). That's a milestone that makes you think back on the journey.
This journey began in the lead up to the release by the US Supreme Court of the Heller v. District of Columbia opinion - in other words, this blog pre-dates Heller. Looking back on the last 18 years here, things are really different for the Second Amendment.
It's all well and good to have a Constitution that's written down in black and white, but that doesn't help much if the Legislatures ignore it and the Courts refuse to strike down infringing laws. That has changed, and while there are still pieces of broken Gun Control on the floor needing to be swept up, the change is profound. Let's take a quick recap on that and then talk about what it means.
Heller v. D.C. (2008) stated as the plain law of the land that Second Amendment rights apply to individuals, not just to State Militias. It kind of seems ridiculous to actually have to write this today, but that was the "accepted" legal understanding prior to Heller.
McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010) held that Heller applied not just to the District of Columbia, but to all the States (via the 14th Amendment).
New York Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022) was the hammer blow. It established that the meaning of the Second Amendment as it was understood at the time was what it really meant, and that gun control laws had to demonstrate that the laws are consistent with that. This flipped the switch - no longer would citizens have to demonstrate that they have a right, but the government has to demonstrate that they don't.
This is what has left all those broken pieces of Gun Control cluttering up the floor. Sure, they still need to be swept up, but look where things are now:
- Gun permitting is not dead, but it's coughing up blood. "Shall Issue" permitting is the law of the land - governments have to prove that you shouldn't be allowed to carry rather than you justify why do need to.
- Most States were "Shall Issue" in 1990. None are today. In fact, half the States don't require you to have any permit at all to carry a firearm.
- "Assault Weapons" Bans are the last refuge of the desperate. Liberal Legislatures that pass these today know for certain that they will be struck down. Increasingly, the Courts are imposing restraining orders preventing the laws from going into force while they are being litigates.
- The National Firearms Act of 1934 is a pale shadow of its former self. Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" (which was anything but) repealed the tax on suppressors. The Tax Code is really the main way for the Fed.Gov to impose the law here; no tax, no law.
So what does all this mean? The biggest advancement in Second Amendment rights has been the normalization of the idea of firearms. The biased media has a really hard time today in painting us as a fringe community.
Heck, SCOTUS just ruled that the Fed.Gov cannot prevent firearms purchases by people who smoke pot. The ruling was unanimous. Conservative Alito and liberal Kagan co-authored a concurring opinion. It's cats and dogs living together.
This has even been absorbed by the lower courts - the District and Circuit Courts of Appeals. It's great if SCOTUS makes a ruling, but if the lower courts don't enforce it then it doesn't carry much weight. We saw a fair amount of this during the years after Heller. Now we don't. Sure, there will always be the rogue District Judge who allows a plainly infringing gun control law, but these are getting struck down on appeal.
We're no longer the weirdos, the weirdos are on the other side. The Class War against gun owners is pretty much over.
That's one heck of a change in 18 years.
12 comments:
And yet, we still have a ways to go. See Virginia and New York., for example. Even Maine now has a 72 hour wait to buy a gun!
libertyman,
I don't like the odds of any of those States winning those on appeal. That was kind of my final point.
Yeah, the anti-gun idiots will keep trying but they will keep losing. The judiciary seems to have come around.
It is good to keep track of recent history. Yours and other blogs perform a service to that end.
Myself, I keep a file of notable recent events (recent being the last twenty-five years.) plus some noteworthy comments to air in remembering the mood of that time. Downloaded or printed out to preserve integrity.
Loud mouths would do well to keep track in order to see how any particular subject has advanced, or regressed.
... to aid ...
Yes...we have made great strides in restoring 2A rights over the past few decades. But we must never forget...the evil left NEVER quits, NEVER gives up, NEVER goes away. And if they ever regain full control of the government ALL our gains could be washed away in one term. As long as leftists are allowed to exist our freedom, our rights, our country are in peril.
Amen, Rick
danielbarger, yes you are correct - Evil never sleeps. But right now we have (evil) gun control on the run. Keep 'em skeered ....
Congratulations, and yes, things ARE getting better, and the left will never stop trying to take our guns away... They want complete control and cannot get it as long as we can defend ourselves and our loved ones!
I'm a member of GOA and Texas Gun Rights. What's sad is that you have to write your worthless Grand Ole Poltroon state representative in too many cases to get any pro gun legislation even passed.
One notable victory a couple sessions ago (the magic of Texas government is that the legislature is only in session every two years) was the passing of a bill banning municipalities and counties requiring insurance for gun ownership.
Virginia has joined the ranks of the gun grabbers.
Perhaps I am being too narrow where you meant broadly. But I much prefer that the rep does not move unless directed by the people.
Too often some elected jackass behaves as a lord to tell the people how it is.
So, whether we expect him to automatically advance a cause of our liking, I desire that he not do anything at all until and unless directed by the people.
If you have such a representative, keep him, do not let him get away.
As for the party, not once in 50+ have I voted for a party.
Perhaps strangely this ties into your previous post "Science is not magic". Specifically in the third paragraph. "...he does not (much) delve into what happens to that process when it gets corrupted by moneyed interests." Which ties in to John Fisher's 10:46 AM comment.
It seems that every state that has recently had a "red wave" in which the republicans have taken power, at least on paper, someone like Spanberger in Virginia jumps at the opportunity to pass a bunch of new restrictions. Virginia governor Twatwaffle has nothing on New York's governor Twatwaffle who wants a 3D printer to understand that the collection of XYZ points it's positioning the print head to put a micro-drop of plastic down is printing something that will make the gun's trigger full auto.
It's hard to imagine the "moneyed interests" on the gun control side don't see money to be made by forcing inane laws like this. Is it lawyers this time? They stand to make money riding crap like this to the Supreme Court?
If they require 3D printers make that distinction, how far away are they from requiring hobby-class milling machines know? "I'm sorry Dave, I can't machine that part for you, it's an illegal trigger." How far out are needle files and hand tools?
Control freaks are gonna control.
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