Court Overturns Chicago Handgun Ban in Decision Extending Gun Rights

[Geee]

The Hill:

Court overturns Chicago handgun ban in decision extending gun rights
By Michael O'Brien - 06/28/10 10:24 AM ET

The Supreme Court overturned a Chicago ban on handguns, ruling that the Second Amendment applies to states.

A 5-4 decision by Justice Samuel Alito ruled that the Constitution's guarantee on the right to "keep and bear arms" prohibited states -- and, in this case, the city of Chicago -- from banning the possession of handguns, reversing a lower court's ruling and remanding it for further proceedings.

"We have previously held that most of the provisions of the Bill of Rights apply with full force to both the Federal Government and the States," Alito wrote. "Applying the standard that is well established in our case law, we hold that the Second Amendment right is fully applicable to the States."

The court also emphasized, though, that some regulation of firearms could be permissible under the constitution, such as prohibitions on guns in "sensitive places," or restrictions on owning guns among felons and the mentally ill.

Paul Helmke, the president of The Brady Center, a group advocating gun control laws, said it was heartened by language it saw in the decision that would allow for "common-sense gun laws."

"We are reassured that the Court has rejected, once again, the gun lobby argument that its ‘any gun, for anybody, anywhere’ agenda is protected by the Constitution," Helmke said in a statement. "The Court again recognized that the Second Amendment allows for reasonable restrictions on firearms, including who can have them and under what conditions, where they can be taken, and what types of firearms are available."

The high court two years ago struck down Washington, D.C.'s handgun ban in District of Columbia v. Heller. But the city of Chicago contended its ban was still legal because the Second Amendment, which addresses gun rights, applied only to the federal government.

The court rejected that argument, with the five conservative justices -- including Anthony Kennedy -- voting to strike down the law. The court's four more liberal justices, including Justice John Paul Stevens, dissented.

Stevens is retiring from the court at the end of this term, for which the final decisions are being made.

The Senate is taking up hearings on Monday on President Barack Obama's pick to fill Stevens's spot on the bench, Elena Kagan. The gun case is almost certain to find its way into the questioning of Kagan during hearings throughout the week.

The case decided Monday is McDonald v. City of Chicago.
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This is going to make little Richie Daley very angry-he is used to getting his way.

[Sabre86]

Crime will now drop in Chicago, and it will never be reported.

[Argyle58]

Crime will now drop in Chicago, and it will never be reported.

 

Yup....and in NYC, too, since the Sullivan Act is now null and void.

[Casino67]

This seems to be a typical criminal weekend in Chicago. Wonder if anything will change?

 

Sunday, June 27, 2010

 

City workers find strangled woman in West Side alley

City workers found a woman strangled to death Friday morning in a West Side alley.

 

 

 

 

1 dead, 1 hurt in Pilsen shooting after crash

 

Man suspected in death of South Side baby turns himself in

 

City workers find strangled woman in West Side alley

Calumet Township trustee drowns at facility

 

Man, woman shot in Albany Park

 

Teen boy shot in abdomen area on SW Side

 

Burbank man fatally shot on SW Side

 

Police shoot man with gun in Park Forest

 

 

Saturday, June 26, 2010

 

Charges in marijuana harvest near Cell

The White Sox have been harvesting a bumper crop of wins recently, but a 45-year-old man was allegedly growing a different thriving crop near U.S. Cellular Field.

 

 

 

 

Alderman's son returning to city job after DUI bust

Man impersonated cop, raped woman: police

 

Police shoot man with gun in Park Forest

 

Puerto Rican IDs are hot items

1 dead, 2 wounded in separate shootings

 

Man fatally shot on birthday marks Maywood's 1st homicide

 

Abuse, neglect suspected in death of South Side boy

 

1 dead, 1 critically wounded in Pilsen shooting

 

Male shot in face on NW Side

 

Boy, 16, in good condition after shot in the face

 

Man wounded in West Side shooting

 

Man critically wounded in South Side shooting

 

Man wounded in Back of the Yards shooting

 

Source

 

I guess this could be true for any big city nowadays.

[Sabre86]

Daley is already promising a new law to make it all but impossible to own a gun and to get Obama to pass a new assault weapons ban.