The Consitution has prevailed but just barely.  It is issues such as    
   this that point out why folks like Kagan should never be comfirmed and    
   liberals like Obama should never be elected...     
      
      
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   http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-   
   dyn/content/article/2010/06/28/AR2010062802134_pf.html   
      
      
   Gun rights extended by Supreme Court   
      
   By MARK SHERMAN   
   The Associated Press   
   Monday, June 28, 2010; 10:46 AM    
      
      
      
   WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court held Monday that the Constitution's    
   Second Amendment restrains government's ability to significantly limit    
   "the right to keep and bear arms," advancing a recent trend by the John    
   Roberts-led bench to embrace gun rights.    
      
   By a narrow, 5-4 vote, the justices also signaled, however, that some    
   limitations on the right could survive legal challenges.    
      
   Writing for the court in a case involving restrictive laws in Chicago    
   and one of its suburbs, Justice Samuel Alito said that the Second    
   Amendment right "applies equally to the federal government and the    
   states."    
      
   (Photos from a Patriot's Day gun rights rally)    
      
   The court was split along familiar ideological lines, with five    
   conservative-moderate justices in favor of gun rights and four liberals    
   opposed. Chief Justice Roberts voted with the majority.    
      
   Two years ago, the court declared that the Second Amendment protects an    
   individual's right to possess guns, at least for purposes of self-   
   defense in the home.    
      
   That ruling applied only to federal laws. It struck down a ban on    
   handguns and a trigger lock requirement for other guns in the District    
   of Columbia, a federal city with a unique legal standing. At the same    
   time, the court was careful not to cast doubt on other regulations of    
   firearms here.    
      
   Gun rights proponents almost immediately filed a federal lawsuit    
   challenging gun control laws in Chicago and its suburb of Oak Park, Ill,    
   where handguns have been banned for nearly 30 years. The Brady Center to    
   Prevent Gun Violence says those laws appear to be the last two remaining    
   outright bans.    
      
   Lower federal courts upheld the two laws, noting that judges on those    
   benches were bound by Supreme Court precedent and that it would be up to    
   the high court justices to ultimately rule on the true reach of the    
   Second Amendment.    
      
   The Supreme Court already has said that most of the guarantees in the    
   Bill of Rights serve as a check on state and local, as well as federal,    
   laws.    
      
   Monday's decision did not explicitly strike down the Chicago area laws,    
   ordering a federal appeals court to reconsider its ruling. But it left    
   little doubt that they would eventually fall.    
      
   Still, Alito noted that the declaration that the Second Amendment is    
   fully binding on states and cities "limits (but by no means eliminates)    
   their ability to devise solutions to social problems that suit local    
   needs and values."    
      
   --- PCBoard (R) v15.3/M 10   
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