Heller - "the people" WIN

If there was ever a circumstance that would lift me to the grandiose heights of actually posting something more frequently than every two months, this is it.

Supreme Court Strikes Down D.C. Gun Ban, Upholds Right to Keep and Bear Arms

Woohoo! Still reading the opinion and the two dissents, but the salient points are these:

1. The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home. Pp. 2–53.
(a) The Amendment’s prefatory clause announces a purpose, but does not limit or expand the scope of the second part, the operative
clause. The operative clause’s text and history demonstrate that it connotes an individual right to keep and bear arms. Pp. 2–22.
(b) The prefatory clause comports with the Court’s interpretation of the operative clause. The “militia” comprised all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense. The Antifederalists feared that the Federal Government would disarm the people in order to disable this citizens’ militia, enabling a politicized standing army or a select militia to rule. The response was to deny Congress power to abridge the ancient right of individuals to keep and bear arms, so that the ideal of a citizens’ militia would be preserved.

Anyhoo, back to reading the 157-page release!