The District of Columbia v. Heller is a case that should be televised today. It is something to think about during Sunshine Week; the trial of Saddam Hussein was televised, but our own U.S. Supreme Court hearings are not.
The case marks the first time a Second Amendment challenge to a firearm law has reached the Supreme Court since 1939!
Dick Anthony Heller tried to register a handgun and, of course, Washington, D.C. said no because the district bans most handguns. So Heller took on the district's 32-year-old law that is among the nation's most strict on gun ownership.
Heller said he lives in a high-crime area and wanted the gun to stay safe. He says he owns both handguns and long guns (rifles and shotguns), but said he stores them outside the district. Handguns are used in the overwhelming percentage of assaults and robberies, according to testimony offered in the case.
The Washington Times explains the importance of the case:
"Regardless of who wins and loses, the crucial thing is really going
to be what [the justices] are going to say about the Second Amendment,"
said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Combat Gun
Violence. "It will set the ground rules for analyzing almost every gun
law in the country for years to come."
Attorneys for the city
and Dick Anthony Heller -- a special police officer whose failed effort
to register a handgun in 2002 helped spur the legal battle -- will argue their cases before the justices on Tuesday.
Both
sides in the case, along with city officials, federal lawmakers and the
White House, say the court's decision places much at stake.
An editorial in the (Fort-Worth, Texas) Star-Telegram points out:
According to Metropolitan Police
Department statistics, criminals killed more than 180 individuals in
the District of Columbia in 2007. Most of them used a gun. Even more
telling are the Police Department's gun recoveries. In a city that bans
even the possession of handguns, police recovered 2,924 guns in 2007.
Clearly, a ban on gun ownership does not prevent criminals from getting
and using guns.
Instead, the District of Columbia has created a
situation in which criminals have weapons and law-abiding citizens do
not. It is no wonder that this city declared a crime emergency last
year. The ban has created more targets than safe streets.
In
addition to being ineffective, the gun ban is unconstitutional. The
district has argued that the Second Amendment right to "keep and bear
arms" does not apply to individuals outside of a militia.
-- Brief of Dick Anthony Heller
-- Brief of District of Columbia and Adrian M. Fenty, Mayor of the District of Columbia
-- Reply Brief of District of Columbia and Adrian M. Fenty, Mayor of the District of Columbia
The Washington Times reports that "nearly 70 amicus briefs have been filed on behalf of more than 320
members of Congress, 36 states and other interested parties on both
sides of the case."
As you work on stories today to localize this national story, take a look at some of the "friend of the court" briefs filed by a wide range of groups. Pay special attention to the filings from states that lined up against the DC gun-ban law.
Amicus (friend of the court) briefs filed in support of Heller:
Recently filed amicus briefs in support of Washington, D.C.
