The Supreme Court concluded today that the Second Amendment does indeed protect an individual right to arms and that the DC handgun ban and requirement that all guns be rendered inoperable within the home, were violations of that protection and must be changed.Specifically, the Court ordered that the District of Columbia must allow Richard Heller to register a handgun and be issued a permit to carry it about within the confines of his home in a functional condition for purposes of self-defense.
The Court did not delve deeply into what restrictions would or would not be acceptable under the Second Amendment though their order that Heller be allowed to register a handgun and be issued a permit clearly suggest that they consider such registration and permitting acceptable limitations.
** Note: After a more thorough and thoughtful review, I see that the order specifically abstained from expressing an opinion on DC's licensing and registration laws, almost inviting a challenge to them. They could not have taken any other course without opening the entire "what's acceptable & what's not" can of worms and we would likely be even less happy with the results of that at this time. Like a good argument, the case must be built brick by brick - a very slow process in the courts, but it really is the best way under the current circumstances. -- JK
Court denies Olofson’s bid to stay out of jail pending appeal.
David Olofson was convicted in January of illegally transferring a machinegun after a 20-year old AR-15 he had loaned to a friend fired two short multi-round bursts.Last month he was sentenced to 30 months in prison, but his attorney immediately filed an appeal in the Federal Appeals Court for the 7th Circuit.Along with the appeal, they filed a motion to allow the Army reservist and father of three to remain free until the appeal is settled.While Olofson’s appeal could drag out for quite some time, early in June, a three-judge panel of the court said they would not keep Olfson out of jail in the interim.
It is likely that Olofson will remain free for several more weeks due to backlogs in the system, but as soon as the government incarcerators catch up a little David Olofson will have to begin serving his sentence.
We don't want to pick your pocket. We just want to pick your brain. We have created a new forum site called www.GunVoter.org to serve as a central clearinghouse for information about the fight for gun rights, particularly regarding candidates and elections, but including legislation too. We need you to register at www.GunVoter.org (it must be .org as the guy who controls .com is demanding $10,000 for rights to the site,) and then post information about what’s going on in your state.
Without your input, the site is just an empty shell.
With your help it can become the most comprehensive collection of grassroots gun rights information anywhere.
Please go to www.GunVoter.org, register, and post information. The information can be an alert from a grassroots group, an article from a newsletter or blog (with permission and proper credit,) or just your own opinion about the situation in your state. We’d also like to hear from you in the “General Comments/Suggestions” area to let us know what you think of the site, things we could do to make it better, and your thoughts on general topics.
