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Posted: 6/28/2003 12:19:33 PM EDT
Serious question.  Has an RKBA issue been brought before the supreme court to challenge the constitutionality of gun control laws?  I can't think of one, but I may have missed something.
Link Posted: 6/28/2003 12:58:09 PM EDT
[#1]
Link Posted: 6/28/2003 1:27:17 PM EDT
[#2]
Only case on point was the Miller decision, however it can be distinguished away as Sherrick pointed out because the decision was tailed to NFA weapons.  Miller was convicted of possession of a sawed off shotgun in violation of the 1934 NFA.  The court said that Congress determined that this weapon was part of a collection of dangerous weapons which should be regulated.  Those guns were named and did not include pistols and most modern firearms.

However, since then, some circuits have taken Miller to mean that there is no individual RTKBA, which has lead to the Emerson ruling which perfectly distinguished away the supposed Miller ruling on collective rights, in favor of the new individual rights.  (Not really new, but new to the dumbasses sitting in the circuit courts.)

Two major cases followed, Silveira v Lockyer and Nordyke v. King, which came from the super liberal (often overturned) 9th circuit.   These were supposed to be an equivelent indepth answer to the Emerson decision, yet their sources for contemporary writings were very limited and in most cases, blind to the facts.

HOWEVER, within those two decisions, there are major dissenting opinions by the judges.  The dissent stated that there is an independant right, which the majority does not find.  Those cases ended up being decided on the fact that the plaintiffs (on our side) did not have jurisdiction to sue, since the majority found a collective right, which allows ONLY THE STATES a right to KBA.  

I just wrote a major paper on this issue(got an A for my last law school paper!), if you're interested in how this might reach the supreme court, IM or email me and I'll send you the paper.  All in all, its about 28 pages with footnotes and proper citations if you want to look into this more.
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