More Brady hypocrisy

Q: First of all Mr. Henigan, can you tell us what the court decided?

In the Parker case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia struck down D.C.'s very strict handgun laws finding that they violate the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. And this decision is the first in history by a U.S. Court of Appeals striking down a gun law on Second Amendment grounds. It is literally unprecedented. And it is also in defiance of a United States Supreme Court decision issued almost 70 years ago. That decision held that the right to keep and bear arms in the Second Amendment applies only to well regulated state militias and not to the private possession of guns for other purposes. The D.C. Circuit in the Parker case held that the right is not restricted to the militia and that was in utter contradiction to what the Supreme Court has decided.

Q: So, the Court effectively ignored the first half of the Second Amendment and focused only on the second half regarding the right to bear arms?

The Second Amendment is the only provision in our Bill of Rights that actually states its own purpose. It says a well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. And the Court has held, the Supreme Court has held, that that statement of purpose must be taken seriously and the right must be evaluated and interpreted in light of that purpose. And by ignoring that purpose the D.C. Circuit not only contradicted the Supreme Court but also years of precedent which establishes that
it is not legitimate for courts to edit the Constitution. The courts must interpret the Constitution as it was written by the framers. That is what the D.C. Circuit did not do. (Emphases added)

Q: Does this decision place any of our nation's gun laws at risk?

Well, we believe it does. We believe that very sensible, life-saving gun laws at the local, state and federal level are threatened by this decision because once you rip the right to keep and bear arms away from its stated purpose, you basically invite activist judges across the board who may be hostile to gun control as a policy matter, you invite them to second guess the wisdom of legislatures in enacting those law and to strike them down under the Second Amendment. So we may very well see challenges to such common sense laws as the Brady Law, the Gun Control Act of 1968, the Federal Machine Gun Ban - all of these are put at risk by this radical decision.

Q: Do you truly think this decision will have such far-reaching impact?

Well, those who have sponsored this case have already stated their intention to use this law to challenge other gun laws. I take them very seriously. I take them at their word. They're not just concerned about the D.C. gun laws. They're gearing up to use this decision to attack other laws. And certainly the threat is even more dire if this case goes to the U.S. Supreme Court, and in the worst-case scenario, the Supreme Court affirms the Parker decision. That's why it's so important for us to fight this decision and to get it reversed.

Q: What can our supporters do to help?

We want to create a drumbeat of opposition against this decision not only in the legal community but the public at large. We want to see letters to the editor. We want to see callers into radio talk shows. We want to see op-ed pieces. We want to see experts in the field writing about this decision. We want the public to be mobilized expressing outrage that gun laws, that have the broad support of the American people, would be called into question and put at risk by this renegade decision.

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We do indeed live in an age where such actions may be taken, but who's to say the public at large takes the advantage of that as it should?

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