Most Liberal U.S. Appeals Court Incorporates 2nd Amendment

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has incorporated the 2nd Amendment via the Fourteenth, meaning that now, for the first time, federal and state law might be restricted by the federal Bill of Rights as it concerns the right to bear arms. This is a landmark decision, the most important gun rights case since Heller. The NRA responds:

[T]he U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit marked a milestone in Second Amendment history by ruling that the Second Amendment limits state and local government infringements on our right to keep and bear arms through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. NRA has been involved in, and supportive of, this case for the past ten years and has filed several amicus briefs in the case.

There are problems with incorporating such rights, from a decentralist view, but interestingly the liberals have been consistent here in applying Heller against the states, just as they would apply other civil liberties. Unfortunately, the court says some restrictions are still compatible with the right to bear arms, but this too is consistent with Heller.

Anthony Gregory is a former Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and author of the Independent books American Surveillance and The Power of Habeas Corpus in America.
Beacon Posts by Anthony Gregory | Full Biography and Publications
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