On March 9, a good thing happened for people living in the central and
inner cities of America: the DC gun ban was declared unconstitutional.
The blanket ban on all operational firearms - and every handgun even if
that gun doesn't work - was struck down as unconstitutional by a federal
appeals court. As a guy who lived in the projects, served as mayor of
Cincinnati, and who serves as a member of the National Rifle
Association's urban affairs committee, I say, "Three cheers for
justice."
Many cities have bad gun laws, and the worst is the DC gun ban. Under
the ban, you cannot have any handgun, even in your own home. What's
worse, you can't even have a shotgun or rifle, unless it's locked away
(unloaded) or disabled with something like a trigger lock. The end
result is the same; you cannot have a functional firearm handy in your
house. If something happens in the darkness of night, you cannot have a
usable firearm to defend your house, your children, or even your own
life. That's the outrage of laws like the DC gun ban.
Gun control laws hurt law-abiding people because they're the only ones
who obey those laws. Criminals, by definition, don't obey the law.
When you pass broad gun control laws criminals still get guns. What's
worse, when you ban guns, the criminals know their intended victims are
almost certainly unable to fight back.
And, what types of citizens are disadvantaged the most by these laws:
low income families and poor people living in our inner cities. Many of
my fellow African-Americans, Latinos, and other racial minorities are
burdened under such laws. If some thug tries to pull a gun or bust
through a door, there's little decent people can do to protect
themselves.
Every man has the right, and the duty, to put his life on the line to
defend his wife or mother or child. A single mother of any race
shouldn't have to worry about protecting her little girl. A
grandfather, regardless of where he lives, shouldn't fear for his
grandson's safety when they go to bed. Women, the elderly and the
disabled are the ones left most vulnerable by gun control laws. The
inner city is full of them.
Gun control laws like the DC gun ban leave these good people
defenseless.
That is not what the Founders intended. They put into the Bill of
Rights an express provision to protect people: the Second Amendment.
Declaring that "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not
be infringed," the Second Amendment gives every American the right to
defend their life, liberty and property against anyone who tries to take
it away. The Second Amendment is an insurance policy to protect freedom
for every citizen. That includes Americans living in DC.
The framers of the Constitution understood that an armed society is a
safe society. They understood that everyone is safer when criminals do
not know who is armed, that foreign nations don't relish the thought of
attacking an armed people, and that no government wants to oppress a
citizenry that has the power to resist.
At long last, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Circuit has validated that view. The DC Circuit held that the Second
Amendment guarantees an individual right for private citizens to keep
and bear arms, and invalidated the DC gun ban as unconstitutional. In
doing so, they affirmed that owning a gun is a civil right of all
law-abiding citizens.
The implications of this case are enormous as the city government
decides how to proceed. Eventually, this matter may be decided by the
U.S. Supreme Court.
Constitutional lawyers explain that if this case is affirmed, it would
lay the foundation for changing gun control laws all over the country.
At the same time, if the appeals court decision is reversed, the impact
could be enormous, as it could begin to erode support for the idea that
owning firearms is a basic right.
Every American should care about this case, and every American should
hope the Supreme Court clearly reaffirms this fundamental right
guaranteed by the Second Amendment.
But, those who should want this most are people who grew up like me:
blacks from the inner city, living in the projects. Good and decent
people. They deserve to be safe too. They deserve security in their
homes also. They are Americans, and the courts should respect their
dignity and vindicate their rights.
|