Grant Bosse on the Second Amendment
By Grant Bosse
By upholding an individual right to keep and bear arms, overturning the oppressive handgun ban in Washington D.C., but leaving room for local and state regulations, the court has put Congress and state legislatures front and center. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is already pushing for strict gun control restrictions "near schools," without saying how wide such a zone would be.
After Heller, we can follow Pelosi's lead and start to rebuild the wall between law-abiding citizens and their 2nd Amendment rights, or we can roll back the unneeded and harmful restrictions still on the books.
The first step would be to restore the right to carry in our national parks. Current policy prevents Americans from bringing their legal firearms onto many public lands, despite the threats hikers and campers face from predators, both animal and human. By turning our parks into "gun free zones," we've told criminals where to find unarmed victims miles away from any law enforcement.
We should also recognize the right to carry legal firearms across state lines. A national reciprocity law would give law-abiding citizens the freedom to bring their guns with them when they leave home. Cities like Chicago and states like New York would not be able to infringe on their 2nd Amendment rights just because they were passing through. These local gun control laws are likely to face their own legal challenges after Heller, but reciprocity would put a dent in them immediately.
The Supreme Court has read the clear meaning of the 2nd Amendment, and five of the nine justices understood what they read. But the anti-gun lobby will not stop. Neither can supporters of the 2nd Amendment. After Heller, just about everyone will say they support the 2nd Amendment, but voters need to look deeper. Even Barack Obama, who not only supported the D.C. handgun ban but has gone on record calling for even stricter gun control, now claims that the court got it right in Heller. Don't believe him.
Grant Bosse is seeking the Republican nomination for NH's Second Congressional District seat presently held by Democrat Paul Hodes. Visit his website here. GraniteGrok Q & A here.
[This is exerpted from today's Union Leader. Please read the entire piece here.]
