So, Now That Heller is Ruled

Which Amendment should I support now?

Sadly, I still have to be vigilant about the 2nd. It was only 5-4. If it was 8-1 or 9-0 I could relax and concentrate on the 5th or 10th Amendments or something. If one of the five constitutional judges retires, and is replaced by a fiat-judge, ruling on how they personally prefer the world to be, rather on that novel concept, ruling on the LAW of the land, then Heller could be reversed back inside of 10 years.

Just look at the other recent rulings where the court had no business. The Kennedy child rape law is the most sensational. If the death penalty is Constitutional, then a legislative body could decide ANY felony is a capital crime. It's not unusual. When the Constitution was written a felony conviction meant hanging. I wonder what the ruling would have been if the guilty party was on death row for a white collar crime that had been made a capital offense by a legislature? (Think of the deterrence THAT would make. Steal from the pension fund, and get killed by the gov't.)

And look how the court has messed up other basic rights, admitting that you HAVE property rights, but they don't really matter if someone in government say they don't, as in the Kelo decision.

Not enough Supreme Court cases are ruled 9-0 with a simple brief: "This is/is not supported by the Constitution. Stop monkeying with this." Just a LITTLE judicial restraint...

A commenter on another blog, I forget where I saw, did mention that the ruling WAS sorta 9-0. Even the dissenters conceded that the 2nd Amendment was an individual right. Their remedy for Heller applicability was different than the majority's. Others argue that the 4 ruled collective right only. I need to finish the ruling and read the dissents... The Supreme Court's check is on Constitutionality. The legislature is about will of the people, its how a Federalist Republic should work. You know, the Constitution? The thing all of them and many of us swore an oath to protect and defend? No one that does not take that oath seriously should ever be allowed near any government position. We voters have done a poor job with that. We should try to do better from this point forward.

But we live in an imperfect world. It requires us to be ever vigilant. The Heller ruling is good, but it is the beginning, not the end. It took 100 years to get from the 13th Amendment to Brown vs. Board of Education. I hope it doesn't take 100 years to get from Heller to a place we can relax about 2nd Amendment infringements. Besides, in 100 years I want the T-Bolt legacy to shoot really COOL Gauss Guns and Phasers at the range.