Statement By John McCain On The DC Gun Ban Case Before The Supreme Court

ARLINGTON, VA — U.S. Senator John McCain today issued the following statement on District of Columbia v. Heller:

“Today, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on District of Columbia v. Heller, a landmark case for all Americans who believe as I do that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms. I am proud to have joined in an amicus brief to the Court calling for a ruling in keeping with the clear intent of our Founding Fathers, which ensures the Second Amendment rights of the residents of District of Columbia are reaffirmed.”

More: Stop The ACLU points to a good Heritage Foundation video

Michelle Malkin has a big roundup of the issue

Randy Barnett

The Second Amendment protects an individual right. In the 1960s, gun control advocates dismissed the Second Amendment as protecting the so-called “collective right” of states to preserve their militias — notwithstanding that, everywhere else in the Constitution, a “right” of “the people” refers to an individual right of persons, and the 10th Amendment expressly distinguishes between “the people” and “the states.” Now even the District asserts the new theory that, while this right is individual, it is “conditioned” on a citizen being an active participant in an organized militia. Therefore, whoever wins, Heller won’t be based on a “collective” right of the states.

The way I have always looked at the 2nd is that it is about the ability of the People as individuals to posses weapons in order to protect themselves from government, which, according to all the papers I ever read on the Framing, that is what they meant. This would give people the ability to form militia’s, much as they did during the Revolution, to protect their communities. But, still, an individual Right.