In today's WSJ: The Second Amendment and the States. To me this case, McDonald v. Chicago, if it goes the wrong way, i.e. Chicago's ban on hand guns is upheld could actually lead to some serious problems for Gun Owners. The Constitution does not grant any rights to individuals. The Bill of Rights only enumerates a set of rights that the founders thought sufficiently important to ensure that it was clearly spelled out that the US government could not infringe upon them. Arguments are being made that the Constitution is only applies to the federal government - thus conceivably that within our own States we have no rights protected by the Bill of Rights if the said states choose not to uphold them. Therefore it is possible that in some states that one would have no freedom of speech or religion. But time after time the Supreme Court has protected those rights (religion is hardly ever protected unless you are Muslim). So, if McDonald is allowed to stand then it is possible that guns across the US could be banned except on Federal Lands just by each state banning the right individually. The 14th Amendment is always being touted as prohibiting this but the arguments seem to fall short of the 2nd Amendment.
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