{"id":57216,"date":"2020-07-23T17:36:16","date_gmt":"2020-07-23T22:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=57216"},"modified":"2020-07-23T17:36:16","modified_gmt":"2020-07-23T22:36:16","slug":"57216","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=57216","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

The Second Amendment: constitutional \u2018orphan\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Is the Second Amendment limited to a handgun in the home? If the Supreme Court is too gun-shy to answer, the landmark\u00a0Heller\u00a0case will continue to be hollowed out by politicians and liberal judges.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Firearm sales have surged during the coronavirus pandemic. Fears over the pandemic and urban unrest are driving millions of Americans to buy guns at a record pace, with nearly half appearing to be first time gun owners.<\/p>\n

An estimated 3 million more guns have been sold since the pandemic began, with 40% being first-time buyers. 2020 is on track to be the biggest year ever for gun sales in America.<\/p>\n

While the federal government doesn\u2019t track firearm sales, they do track gun background check data through the FBI\/NICS system. Through June, background checks in 2020 increased by 69% over those conducted in 2019.<\/p>\n

The Las Vegas Sun reports the FBI processed more than 22,200 firearm background checks from Nevadans in March through the NICS system, more than double the average number of background checks conducted on Nevadans last year.<\/p>\n

Currently, nearly 40% of Nevada residents own guns, ranking Nevada 16th out of 50 states in per capita gun ownership<\/p>\n

The first full Supreme Court term is now in the books with both Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh on the bench. Conservatives were disappointed the court punted \u2014 again \u2014 on gun rights. The Supreme Court declined to decide any Second Amendment case this term.<\/p>\n

It was Justice Antonin Scalia\u2019s landmark opinion,\u00a0D.C. v. Heller<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0(2008), where the Supreme Court held individuals have the right to bear arms \u2014 but politicians often ignore it. Too often courts have acquiesced in upholding or refusing to review unconstitutional restrictions.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court has refused to review any Second Amendment case since 2010. Justice Clarence Thomas observes: \u201cThe right to keep and bear arms is apparently this court\u2019s constitutional orphan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last December, the court finally heard arguments (New York State Rifle & Pistol Association<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0case) concerning a New York City rule that severely restricted transporting legally owned guns outside of the owner\u2019s home. The rule prevented residents from taking their guns from their city homes to shooting ranges and homes outside the city.<\/p>\n

After the high court accepted the case, the city revised its ban in an effort to avoid an adverse court decision. Case moot, the New York politicians declared.<\/p>\n

Five Senate Democrats also weighed in with an amicus brief threatening the Justices if they didn\u2019t follow their orders to drop the case. \u201cThe Supreme Court is not well,\u201d they wrote. \u201cPerhaps the court can heal itself before the public demands it be \u2018restructured in order to reduce the influence of politics.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In May, the majority buckled with Chief Justice John Roberts wanting to avoid becoming a target of vengeful Senate Democrats. Roberts joined the four liberal Justices in declaring moot the challenge to New York City\u2019s onerous gun regulation.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court in June ducked another Second Amendment case. They declined to review\u00a0Rogers v. Grewal<\/em><\/strong>, a lawsuit dealing with a restrictive New Jersey law that prohibits carrying a firearm unless a \u201cjustifiable need\u201d to do so can be demonstrated.<\/p>\n

The New Jersey case involved a man who applied for a permit to carry a handgun. Because he serviced ATM\u2019s in high-crime areas, he felt he needed a gun for self-defense.<\/p>\n

His application was denied. While Nevada is a \u201cmust issue\u201d state, New Jersey applicants have to establish they have an \u201curgent necessity for self-protection, as evidenced by specific threats or previous attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, to prove you need a gun for self-defense in New Jersey, you virtually have to be attacked first.<\/p>\n

By passing up\u00a0Rogers<\/em><\/strong>, the Supreme Court has declined an opportunity to instruct lower courts and state legislatures on the extent to which the Second Amendment protects the right to self-defense.<\/p>\n

Is the Second Amendment limited to a handgun in the home? If the Supreme Court is too gun-shy to answer, the landmark\u00a0Heller<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0case will continue to be hollowed out by politicians and liberal judges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Second Amendment: constitutional \u2018orphan\u2019 Is the Second Amendment limited to a handgun in the home? If the Supreme Court is too gun-shy to answer, the landmark\u00a0Heller\u00a0case will continue to be hollowed out by politicians and liberal judges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,29,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rkba","category-safety","category-self-defense"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57216"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57217,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57216\/revisions\/57217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}