You Have No Rights

Did you know that at least one federal judge believes that United States Citizens living in Washington D.C. are NOT protected by the Constitution or the Bill of Rights? That’s about the only conclusion I could come up with after reading a ruling just handed down which over turned a lower court’s finding that had banned ownership of firearms within the city limits of Washington D.C. (linked via title bar)


“In the ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected city officials' arguments that the Second Amendment right to bear arms only applied to state militias.”

“In a 2-1 decision, the judges held that the activities protected by the Second Amendment "are not limited to militia service, nor is an individual's enjoyment of the right contingent upon his or her continued intermittent enrollment in the militia."”

{…}

“Judge Laurence Silberman wrote for the majority on Friday. "There are too many instances of 'bear arms' indicating private use to conclude that the drafters intended only a military sense.”

“Judge Karen Henderson dissented, writing that the Second Amendment does not apply to the district because it is not a state.” (emphasis added)

Judge Henderson must not have read the 10th Amendment:

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” (emphasis added)

What about that part, “or to the people”? Individual citizens cannot be denied rights which are protected by the Constitution or the Bill of Rights; it doesn’t say that rights can be denied anywhere; even if you live in Washington D.C.

I suppose that Judge Henderson would say those living in Washington D.C. don’t have any of the other rights either; freedom to assemble, right to freedom of speech or even freedom of the press. I’ll bet the folks at the Washington Post would be interested in that.

I can hardly wait to see how the original D.C. gun ownership case winds it way through the Supreme Court, assuming the appeals process takes it there. Maybe we can get another Kelo type ruling from the elitist MIB, something along the lines, “let local governments determine which rights you have; right to life, right to property and to hell with the Constitution!”

Edited March 9, 2007 4:30pm

I was looking over some other recently posted articles, folks who I visit regularly and ran across “DC Circuit Court gets it Absolutely Right” over at Anarchangel on this same topic. I’ll link with that one at this time knowing full well that this topic will bounce all over the blogshere in not time at all.
http://anarchangel.blogspot.com/2007/03/dc-circuit-court-gets-it-absolutely.html