CompuServe Messages

Don, Don, the Supreme Court HASN'T said much one way or another, other than dicta indicating that firearm ownership is an individual right. Failure to review lower court cases is not the same as a statement by the Supreme Court, whatever you may believe. The LAST major Supreme Court case on gun control, US vs Miller from 1939 (and the only 20th century case to reach the Supreme Court), upheld the taxing and registration of destructive devices (machine guns, sawed-off shotguns, ect.) *since there had been no contrary evidence presented at trial or on appeal*. The constitutionality of the statute hadn't even been argued. So anyone who tells you that gun control has been endorsed by the Supreme Court is simply indulging in wishful thinking. There are two 19th Century cases upholding some *State* level regulation, but there is NOTHING that comes even close to endorsing anything like a federal "assault weapon" ban like that which was just passed. There is good reason to think those 19th century cases would be decided differently today as well. -Karl