| I think I should point out that this is in the
top ten most controversial decisions by the US
Supreme
Court ever. Further, it was 5-4. And it was by
the most conservative
and ideological court in
the history of the US. That means it's not
absolutely
settled that it won't be altered going forward. And frankly I think
you'll see when you read it in its entirety why it is seem as so controversial.
Do read the dissent, as well.
Here's the decision, but to really
understand the issues, I encourage you to listen to the oral argument, which
you can find here. The lower
court felt that the
restrictions on gun ownership were reasonable, like no assault weapons or large
magazines and no more than one gun purchase per 30 days. It wasn't about whether
you could be forced to have zero guns. It was about the degree to which
governments could restrict what kind, what you had to do to get one (register),
etc.
And that is why it's controversial, of course. You can find many
more reasons why it's controversial if you read the amicus briefs, which you can
find on this page. For example, here's the brief
[PDF] by the Violence Policy Center and the Polic Chiefs of the Cities of LA,
Minneapolis and Seattle. And here's the brief [PDF]
for the American Public Health Assocation, American College of Preventive
Medicine, American Trauma Society, and AMerican Association of Suicidology. I
have not read them all myself yet, but I'm guessing you guys wanting solid stats
may find some there.
Finally, while not everyone would agree that it's
unconstitutional to regulate assault weapons, the reality is the Constitution
includes the right to amend it. The Second Amendment is an amendment. You can,
therefore, legally amend the Second Amendment if enough people decide they want
to. [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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