Brownsville Tea Party Association

Archive for the ‘Second Amendment’ Category

The Supreme Court ruled in a landmark 5-4 decision on Monday that the Second Amendment provides Americans a fundamental right to bear arms that cannot be violated by state and local governments. I guess I’m supposed to be ecstatic, wave my arms in the air, jump up and down, and yell “WOOOOOO-EEEEEE!”

Instead, I’m wondering why it took so long for the Supreme Court to affirm what has been patently obvious to anyone who can read English.

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

Seems pretty straightforward to me. I understand that there is no absolute right to gun ownership, just as there is no absolute right to free speech. But there is no clause anywhere in the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, or the Bill of Rights excluding municipalities from the Second Amendment. I have a fundamental right to protect myself and my family with a gun, and that right supercedes any rule or regulation my local city council would seek to impose on me. I have known this for years. Why did it take so long for nine of the smartest Constitutional lawyers/scholars in the country to reach the same conclusion?

And why wasn’t the ruling 9 -0 instead of a squeaker 5-4? This means four Justices (Sotomayor included – Surprise!) do NOT consider the Second Amendment to be a fundamental right that extends to individual citizens. We are one Supreme Court Justice away from losing our Second Amendment rights. That scares the beejeezus out of me.