by Dean Rieck

Whhaaaaaaa!

Hear that? That's the national media throwing a temper tantrum over the Supreme Court ruling that the Second Amendment does in fact protect an individual right to own firearms.

No, the Second Amendment is not limited to those in a militia. No, it's not merely a collective right. No, it's not just about 200-year-old muskets. The Justices said clearly and unequivocally that the Second Amendment means that every citizen has an inherent and uninfringable right to own common firearms. Period. End of debate.

It's a simple idea that most gun rights supporters have always understood. But journalists and editors in mainstream news departments around the nation don't get it. In fact, many seem shocked that one of their primary assumptions has been so suddenly and utterly shattered with the hammer of logic and historical wisdom.

Attorney Alan Gura, on behalf of a coalition of the Second Amendment Foundation and several Chicago Residents, filed suit this morning against the City of Chicago, challenging that city’s draconian gun ban laws. You can view a copy of the complaint here.

This suit is the necessary and logical second step towards restoring the Second Amendment as a viable force in American law. As you read from our prior coverage, the Heller decision applies only to the Federal government. A necessary second step is “incorporation” of the Second Amendment against the 50 states. As originally written, none of the Bill of Rights applied to the states. That was accomplished by the adoption of the 14th Amendment. The gun ban extremists argue that the Second Amendment has never been incorporated, the pro-gun activists argue that it has. Now we will have the answer.

This is a critical next step in the small, building block approach on the way towards fully restoring the Second Amendment.

Predictably, Chicago Mayor Dick Daly is squealing like a stuck pig.

On June 26, 2008, by a vote of 5-4, The United States Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees a fundamental, INDIVIDUAL right to own a firearm.

Voting with the majority were Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Alito, Justice Thomas, Justice Kennedy, and Justice Scalia, who wrote the opinion. Justices Breyer, Ginsburg, Souter and Stevens voted to uphold D.C.’s complete gun ban.

Buckeye Firearms Foundation, together with a coalition of private security companies, filed an amicus brief in support of Mr. Heller.

With this decision, the Court signaled an unequivocal end to the two-decade legal charade popularly referred to as the "collectivist theory." Your right to possess a firearm in your own home is an individual right and has nothing to do with your role, or lack of role, in any militia.

Prior to today’s decision, the majority of the federal court circuits had utilized the collectivist theory, mostly as a means to uphold criminal convictions for violations of federal firearm laws. Clearly bad facts make bad law, and today’s decision is the reprieve gun owners have been looking for.