j u s t c r i m

"the practical effect of incorporation"

SCOTUSblog - Analysis: state gun regulations and McDonald - The practical effect of incorporation [Matthew Scarola| Monday, June 28th, 2010]

"Today’s opinion in McDonald v. City of Chicago means that for the first time, state and local governments’ gun regulations must comport with the Second Amendment’s protection of the right “to keep and bear Arms.” Although many state constitutions have a gun rights provision, McDonald has the potential to radically reshape non-federal firearms legislation.  In this post, we discuss McDonald’s likely effect on some of the most significant pieces of non-federal firearms legislation. The description of existing firearms laws is drawn primarily from a 2008 reportpublished by the Legal Community Against Violence (LCAV), which has a summary of firearms laws on its website..."

"While most state constitutions protect a right to keep and bear arms, state courts almost always deem state gun regulations “reasonable” and uphold them on that basis. In McDonald, the plurality stressed that its holding will not end “‘experimentation with reasonable firearms regulations.’” But it left undisturbed the Court’s strong suggestion in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the D.C. guns case, that a more demanding test is appropriate..."  [RESTOFPOST]

 

alito 2 breyer ...

Finally, JUSTICE BREYER is incorrect that incorporation will require judges to assess the costs and benefits of firearms restrictions and thus to make difficult empirical judgments in an area in which they lack expertise. As we have noted, while his opinion in Heller recommended an interest-balancing test, the Court specifically rejected that suggestion. See supra, at 38–39.

“The very enumeration of the right takes out of the hands of government—even the Third Branch of Government—the power to decide on a case-by-case basis whether the right is really worth insisting upon.” Heller, supra, at ___ (slip op., at 62–63).

Mc DONALD et al. v . CITY OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, et al. ( No. 08-1521 )

Mc  DONALD  et al.   v  . CITY OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, et al.  ( No. 08-1521 ) Argued March 2, 2010—Decided June 28, 2010

SYLLABUS:  Justice Alito  delivered the opinion of the Court concluding that the Fourteenth Amendment incorporates the Second Amendment right, recognized in  Heller,  to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self-defense... The Fourteenth Amendment makes the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms fully applicable to the States. Pp. 19–33.