The Opinion Blog

More Bang For Your Buck?

Friday’s lead editorial questions the need for a sales-tax holiday on gun purchases.

It's the Friday after Thanksgiving – the perfect time to buy a gun, right?

POINT: Court thwarts gun-rights extremists

From the Second Amendment Foundation ... The gun rights interest group interprets the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision Thursday in the District of Columbia v. Heller case:

BELLEVUE, WA – With this morning’s ruling on the case of District of Columbia v. Heller, America has begun “its long march back toward liberty under a Second Amendment that means what it says,” the Second Amendment Foundation said.

“Today’s ruling by the Supreme Court should forever put to rest any contention that the right to keep and bear arms is not a fundamental, individual civil right,” said SAF founder Alan M. Gottlieb. “For six decades, anti-gun rights extremists have engaged in a monumental fraud that has been unfortunately perpetuated by activist judges who erroneously insisted that the right to keep and bear arms applies only to service in a militia.

COUNTERPOINT: Fight to control guns will continue

From the afternoon e-mail ... Paul Helmki, president of the Brady Center and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violenace, said the following about the Supreme Court's decision Thursday in the District of Columbia gun-ban case:

“Our fight to enact sensible gun laws will be undiminished by the Supreme Court’s decision in the Heller case. While we disagree with the Supreme Court’s ruling, which strips the citizens of the District of Columbia of a law they strongly support, the decision clearly suggests that other gun laws are entirely consistent with the Constitution. 

“For years, the gun lobby has used fear of government gun confiscation to thwart efforts to pass sensible gun laws, arguing that even modest gun laws will lead down the path to a complete ban on gun ownership. Now that the Court has struck down the District’s ban on handguns, while making it clear that the Constitution allows for reasonable restrictions on access to dangerous weapons, this ‘slippery slope’ argument is gone. 

27 controversial words about guns

Ripped from the wires ... Texas writer Rowland Nethaway explains what the 2nd Amendment dispute now before the U.S. Supreme Court for resolution is all about.

By ROWLAND NETHAWAY

WACO, Texas -- The U.S. Supreme Court should allow Dick Heller to keep a handgun in his home.
Dick Anthony Heller is a 66-year-old security guard who carries a handgun to protect the employees and property at the federal building where he works in Washington, D.C.

Because Heller also is a resident of the District of Columbia, he is prohibited from having a handgun in his home for self-protection.

Heller sued to overturn Washington's 1976 gun-control law that also requires all rifles or shotguns in D.C. homes to be disassembled or kept under trigger lock. Heller sued claiming that the D.C. law violated his Second Amendment rights.