Individual Rights Won in Today's Supreme Court Hearing, Says SAF

BELLEVUE, Wash., March 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today's oral
arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of District of Columbia
v Heller produced a clear victory for the individual citizen's right to
keep and bear arms, the Second Amendment Foundation said.


"We are confident," said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb, "that the high
court will hand down an opinion that affirms the Second Amendment means
what it says. Based on the questions that the justices asked, it is clear
that they read the amicus briefs submitted by our side in support of
District resident Dick Anthony Heller. We were impressed with the depth of
questions asked by all of the justices, and we have no doubt that the court
has a clear understanding of Second Amendment history, and that 'the
people' are all citizens."



"We believe the District presented a very weak defense of its handgun
ban that is not supported by court precedent or historical fact," he
continued. "Attorney Alan Gura, and Solicitor General Paul Clement,
however, both provided a clear and proper perspective on the meaning of the
Second Amendment. Mr. Gura's remarks left the justices with a clear
understanding why the District's handgun ban is unconstitutional."



Gottlieb believes that Gura, one of three attorneys representing
District resident Dick Anthony Heller, who is challenging the 32-year-old
handgun ban, "won the oral argument."



"While we do not expect the Supreme Court to strike down every gun law
and regulation on the books," Gottlieb said, "we anticipate that the court
will rule once and for all that the right to keep and bear arms is a
fundamental individual civil right, and that gun bans, even on specific
types of commonly-owned firearms, do not stand up under even modest
scrutiny."



"An affirmative ruling, which we anticipate sometime in late June," he
concluded, "will provide a foundation upon which other Draconian firearms
laws can be challenged, and more importantly, it will destroy a fantasy
that has become a cornerstone argument for restrictive gun control laws.
This should put an end to the lie that the Second Amendment only protects
some mythical right of the states to organize a militia. That was not true
when the amendment was written, it is not true today, and it will not be
true tomorrow, regardless how hard extremist gun banners try to make it
so."



The Second Amendment Foundation (http://www.saf.org) is the nation's oldest
and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action
group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own
and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more
than 600,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to
better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.

SOURCE Second Amendment Foundation