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 Uphold 2nd Amendment Gay Gun Club Tells
Supreme Court
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: March 18, 2008 - 1:00 pm ET
(Washington) The US Supreme Court heard arguments
Tuesday in a legal challenge to the District of Columbia's ban on handguns in a
major case over the meaning of the Second Amendment's "right to keep and
bear arms."
A Washington resident who wants to keep handguns
at home for protection is challenging the 32-year-old ban as a violation of his
constitutional rights. A federal appeals court in Washington agreed that the
city cannot ban handguns.
The court has not conclusively interpreted the
Second Amendment in the 216 years since its ratification. The basic issue for
the justices is whether the amendment protects an individual's right to own guns
or whether that right is somehow tied to service in a state militia.
Even if the court determines there is an
individual right, the justices still will have to decide whether the District's
ban can stand and how to evaluate other gun control laws.
"Does
that make it unreasonable for a city with a very high crime
rate...to say no handguns here?" Justice Stephen Breyer
asked the attorneys.
On the other
side, Chief Justice John Roberts asked at one point:
"What is reasonable about a ban on possession" of
handguns?
The case drew 68 briefs from outside groups, most
opposed to the ban.
Among them were Pink Pistols - a national LGBT
gun club - and Gays
and Lesbians for Individual Liberty.
Pink Pistols, which according to its Web site,
has 43 chapters nationwide, said that guns should be
allowed in homes for self-defense purposes.
"More anti-gay hate crimes occur in the home than in any other
location," the Pink Pistols said in their brief.
The group's Web site says that members at its
various chapters "get together at least once a month at local firing ranges
to practice shooting, and to acquaint people new to firearms with them. We will
help you select a firearm, acquire a permit, and receive proper training in its
safe and legal use for self-defense. The more people know that members of our
community may be armed, the less likely they will be to single us out for
attack."
The Supreme Court justices did not say when they
expect to rule in the case.
The DC government argued that its law should be
allowed to remain in force whether or not the amendment applies to individuals,
although it reads the amendment as intended to allow states to have armed
forces.
The City said the ban was justified because
"handguns have no legitimate use in the purely urban environment of the
District of Columbia."
Dick Anthony Heller, 65, an armed security guard,
sued the District after it rejected his application to keep a handgun at his
home for protection. His lawyers argued the amendment plainly protects an
individual's right.
©365Gay.com 2008
with files from The Associated Press
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