Legal Research

District of Columbia Takes Narrow View of Supreme Court Handgun Ruling

By David Badertscher, PLL

Source: Crime and Justice News, July 17, 2008.

"The message being delivered by Washington, D.C., leaders in response to the Supreme Court's rejection of city's ban on handguns is this, says Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher: "With only the narrowest of exceptions, we're sticking with our gun ban. Don't like it? Sue us.' Mayor Adrian Fenty told Fisher' 'I am pretty confident that the people of the District of Columbia want us to err in the direction of trying to restrict guns.' "

"D.C. officials read the Supreme Court decision as an almost academic ruling that although there may be a constitutional right to bear arms to protect yourself, that right is pretty much limited to folks whose house is being broken into right this very second. Acting D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles said, 'It's clear the Supreme Court didn't intend for you to have a loaded gun around the house. I don't think the court thought this was going to become a Wild West scene.' " 

Washington Post

Full post as published by New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library on July 17, 2008 (boomark / email).