Chicago Handgun Ban Lifted!

Sweet.

Interesting that an interpretation that protects individual rights should be considered a conservative decision.

SCOTUS did NOT 'lift' the handgun ban with this ruling.

They reversed and remanded the decision back to the lower 7th Circuit Federal court for them to rule again, with this new 'precedent' now set. Hopefully they will do the right thing and overturn it.

I'm only on page 24 of the 214 page ruling (.pdf) but it seems that had they heard this case in their 2010/2011 session they would have ruled differently.

What is amazing here is that we are still debating whether ALL of the bill of rights apply to everyone individually via the due process clause or otherwise.

A nice quote from Alito's majority opinion...

Chicago enacted its handgun ban to protect its residents"from the loss of property and injury or death from fire-arms." See Chicago, Ill., Journal of Proceedings of theCity Council, p. 10049 (Mar. 19, 1982). The Chicago peti-tioners and their amici, however, argue that the handgun ban has left them vulnerable to criminals. Chicago PoliceDepartment statistics, we are told, reveal that the City's handgun murder rate has actually increased since the ban was enacted1 and that Chicago residents now face one of the highest murder rates in the country and rates of otherviolent crimes that exceed the average in comparable cities.'

Quote: 'Interesting that an interpretation that protects individual rights should be considered a conservative decision.'

If by the right to get shot, yes, that is a Conservative decision.

Ohhhhhh snap, the gun lobby emails are pour into my inbox! Here is delicious snippet from the '2nd amendment foundation'(whoever the meep they are).

Que the scary music:

'Chicago has become a slaughterhouse where defenseless victims are terrorized by armed thugs who have taken full advantage of an unarmed populace. Daley and his predecessors who perpetuated this ban are wading knee-deep in the blood of hundreds of crime victims who should have had the means to defend themselves. '

If by the right to get shot, yes, that is a Conservative decision.

'If by the right to get shot,...' You are retard lulz.

loki and i might actually agree on something unrelated to the treatment of our respective boners. hrm.

*smokes pipe

I spent the first 24 years of my life in the Chicago-land area and can personally attest to the ridiculous amounts of violence. The funny thing is that I just thought of it as 'normal' until I moved to Arizona in late 2008. Here, I would have no concerns about going out for a walk around the block at 1am(not that I need to, but if the desire struck).

Illinois has one of the worst crime rates in the nation, with Chicago and Rockford(my actual home-town) being 2 of the worst. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to take a look at some basic statistics and correlations between an armed populace and lower violent crime rates.

When I visit Rockford, I use Bun E. Carlos as a shield.

If you're *visiting* Rockford, you're doing it wrong.

@meepbox => i just read the opinion and i think Alito takes way to meeping long to makes his point... the meeping justices are so full of themselves.... Thomas' concurrence is better. meeping Slaughterhouse Cases are such a meeping joke of a precedent