Today’s Washington Post reports an often heard but highly inaccurate statement: 90% of guns employed in the drug cartel killing spree come from the U.S. It is a factoid prominently stuck in the minds of leaders and the media, some of whom use this misrepresentation in support of reimposing extensive federal gun restrictions. The Post reports that Mexican law enforcement seized 35,000 weapons between December 2006 and the present. Of that total, the Post reports that 13,149 weapons were then reported to the U.S. by our southern neighbor. That leaves …
Looking ahead to today’s Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for Attorney General nominee Eric Holder, ranking member Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) says he is worried about Holder’s “ability to maintain his independence from the president.” This is the wrong question. The proper question is one of judgment: Does the nominee demonstrate the kind of judgment necessary to advise the President in a responsible and constitutionally appropriate way? There are at least five issues which raise serious questions about Holder’s judgment: Pardoning Terrorists: As deputy attorney general, Holder played an active …
Each morning, District of Columbia special police officer Dick Heller reports to his job protecting the Federal Judicial Center, where he takes possession of a handgun that he carriers throughout the day. Despite the fact that the city trusts Heller to carry a handgun all day in order to protect the courthouse, the city denied him a permit to keep a gun at home in order to protect his family. The District of Columbia has one of then nation’s most draconian handgun bans, and yesterday the Supreme Court struck down …
As the two videos below show, one from Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Tex.) and another from Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), leaders in both parties share the belief the Constitution’s Second Amendment is an individual right of all Americans unconnected with service in a militia. Today’s Supreme Court decision affirming this understanding is a welcome development for our republic. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mN1TVDnuGk[/youtube] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqxy6W-ftU8[/youtube]
In a landmark opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the right to keep and bear arms, recognized in the Second Amendment, is an individual right of all Americans unconnected with service in a militia. (Read the decision.) Americans may use arms like handguns for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home. Six District of Columbia residents originally brought suit challenging the gun ban that virtually forbids the ownership of any handgun and outlaws the functional storage or use of any long gun within …
If today’s oral arguments in the D.C. gun ban case are any indication, the nation’s most restrictive gun-control law could soon be ruled unconstitutional. Today’s hearing before the Supreme Court revealed that Justice Anthony Kennedy is far more inclined to support an individual right to keep and bear arms than anyone might have suspected. Supreme Court reporter Lyle Denniston of SCOTUSblog offered this take on the oral arguments: The Supreme Court’s historic argument Tuesday on the meaning of the Constitution’s Second Amendment sent out one quite clear signal: individuals may …
Here’s a preview of the week ahead in Washington. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZz-iB3k4OI[/youtube] Former Oklahoma Rep. Mickey Edwards will speak at Heritage on March 27 about his new book, “Reclaiming Conservatism: How a Great American Political Movement Got Lost — And How It Can Find Its Way Back.” Edwards says conservatives today have abandoned the principles of individual liberty and limited government. Hans von Spakovsky, a former member of the Federal Elections Commission and counsel for civil rights at the Justice Department, shines the spotlight on vote fraud with his analysis of voter …
Since the District of Columbia first instituted its ban on handguns, there has been only one year (1985) that the homicide rate in the city fell below what it was in 1976. Worse, in 15 of the 29 years since the ban went into effect, D.C. had either the first or second highest murder rate among the nation’s 50 largest cities. In 2003, D.C. special police officer Dick Heller joined five other D.C. residents and sued to challenge D.C.’s handgun ban. Heller carries a handgun while on duty as a …
In anticipation of the Match 18 oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on the D.C. v. Heller gun-ban case, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) told an audience at The Heritage Foundation that the Second Amendment is as plainly an individual right as the right to free speech, religion and assembly: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqxy6W-ftU8[/youtube] Tester also touched on how the Second Amendment protects our rights and on how the D.C. gun ban hurts law-abiding citizens. Tester is one of 55 senators and 250 representatives to sign an amicus brief arguing the Second Amendment …
Super Tuesday is on the horizon and Heritage’s Brian Darling takes a look at the big issues at stake as voters head to the polls in 24 states tomorrow. Citing a recent National Review Online piece by Mike Franc, Darling says conservatives should elevate a few issues above the others: winning the war on terrorism, confronting the coming fiscal crisis, and making the case for pro-growth economic policies and smaller government. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Sa4Ir9er-E[/youtube] Darling also touches on President Bush’s threat to veto spending bills that do not cut the number of …
