Lead Article:

MSLF FIGHTS FOR WESTERNERS' GUN RIGHTS

2nd Amend Right: Individual & Fundamental

In a case closely watched by citizens of the American West, the Supreme Court of the United States recently heard oral arguments with regard to the constitutionality of the gun laws of the District of Columbia. From the beginning of arguments before a packed courtroom, it was clear that a majority of the justices believe that the right protected by the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment is an individual right, not tied to membership in a militia, and a fundamental liberty! That was music to the ears of MSLF, which had filed a friend of the court brief arguing that the Founding Fathers included the provision in the Bill of Rights to ensure that, by exercising their right “to keep and bear arms,” American citizens could defend themselves and their loved ones from danger and their country from tyranny.

MSLF filed its brief in support of a law enforcement officer who is barred by the nation’s most restrictive anti-gun law from having a gun in his home for self defense. MSLF argued, on behalf of members in the American West, which includes all or portions of 18 states in the Nation’s heartland, that the Second Amendment is viewed by westerners not only as an individual and fundamental right but also as inviolate. Moreover, MSLF argued that, following the terrorist attack on the United States on September 11, 2001, the need for individual citizens “to keep and bear arms” has never been more important. In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2005, in a case from Colorado, that an individual has no right to police protection, even when law enforcement is aware of real threats to that individual!

Since 1975, the District of Columbia has had one of the Nation’s most stringent gun control laws under which private citizens may not keep weapons in their homes to provide effectively for their own self defense. Dick Anthony Heller, a District of Columbia special police officer permitted to carry a handgun while on duty but barred from keeping a gun in his home for self-defense, sought a permit to do so. When his application was denied, he sued claiming that the laws violated the Second Amendment.

Mr. Heller’s lawsuit was dismissed by the district court; however, in March 2007, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed. In November 2007, the Supreme Court agreed to decide whether the Constitution protects, as the Court of Appeals ruled, an individual right to keep and bear firearms unrelated to militia operations. With oral arguments concluded on March 18, 2008, a ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller is expected in June 2008.

According to MSLF’s brief, in the West, the virtues of individualism, independence, self-sufficiency, and self-governance yield, not only a strong distrust of government, but also a citizenry that is the bedrock of America’s gun culture. Their State constitutions go further as to their right to “keep and bear arms”; their laws include “make my day,” “castle doctrine,” and “stand your ground” provisions; and their supreme courts interpret broadly the right of self-defense outside the home. MSLF argues that this expansive view of the Second Amendment is consistent with that held by the Founding Fathers.

As far as westerners are concerned, Washington, D.C. proves the truth of the ubiquitous western bumper sticker, “When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.” For while Washington has had, since 1975, the Nation’s most stringent gun control laws and boasts more law enforcement officers per capita than any other city, it annually competes for and often wins designation as America’s “Murder Capital.” No wonder that, for decades, law-abiding Washingtonians complained that they may not keep weapons in their homes to provide effectively for their own self defense. Thanks, in part, to the efforts of MSLF, that may soon change.