Imagine that ... Alabama standing up to California on Gun Rights.
Actually, the Ninth Circuit Court covers the West Coast plus "others". *
In a way, I wish the Nutty Ninth was populated by some justices who recognize the Supreme Court rulings of Macdonald (overturn municipal gun bands, 2nd Amendment applies to individuals) and Heller (right to have guns in home, in immediately usable status) by the Supreme court.
These decisions have been subsequently interpreted to imply that the right to keep and bear arms includes the right to BEAR arms .. which means to carry them in public.
It's one thing to defend "State's Rights" in the context of Federal laws; but it's another thing to defend State's Rights when they conflict with a Constitutional Right (eg: The Second Amendment).
I think it's time that the Second Amendment be applied to all states equally, with the most 'liberal' interpretation be applied to all states; full acceptance of CHL licenses in every state, and carry laws standardized to at least CHL owners to carry in every state without fear of persecution.
The Second Amendment is shaping to be the 21st Century's version of the anti-segregation policies of President Eisenhower in the 50's and 60's, and the Abortion policies of more recent years.
Obviously, these are issues which were not considered 'issues' in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and the "newer" importance of these re-interpretation of Constitutional Rights has led to some confusion about States Right vs the Constitutional Rights.
The clarifying factor may be that the Constitutional Rights have been applied to protect the rights of the individual citizen; States Rights were being (at the time of those controversies) to allow some 'activities' to some Americans, while denying the same rights to other Americans:
"Separate, but Equal"
In the Eisenhower era, the Supreme Court ruled that rights to education, marriage, etc. could not be regulated by State fiats based on race.
"Abortion Rights"
In more recent years (ca 1992), the Supreme Court ruled (see Roe vs Wade, et al) that a woman's right to have an abortion must apply equally to every state, regardless of the state in which state the woman applied for the medical procedure.
Neither of these Supreme Court decisions were universally popular, but they did have the effect of standardizing the Rights of the individual across state lines. Abortion is a good example; it should not be necessary for a woman to cross state lines to access the same rights which are illegal in her home state, but legal in another state.
"Gun Control"
The Issue De Jure is Gun Control, and we have seen far too many examples of a person travelling between states with a firearm which may be legally carried in one state, but falling afoul of the laws of another state.
New Jersey vs Shaneen Allen:
In 2014:Shaneen Allen, a mother of two boys and a licensed handgun owner with no criminal record who is facing three to ten years in a New Jersey prison for crossing state lines with her otherwise legal handgun.Allen was later 'excused' by the then-governor of New Jersey, which is a strong indication that even New Jersey recognizes the injustice of applying gun rights inequitably between states.
Last October, Allen was pulled over in Atlantic County, New Jersey, by police for one of those violations indistinguishable from a pretext: the ol’ unsafe lane change. Allen told the officer that she had a concealed carry license from Pennsylvania, and that she had her handgun — a .380 Bersa Thunder — in the car.
“One of my family members, he thought it was appropriate for me to get one because I’m a single mother and I have two children and I work two jobs and I work late and getting up at that time of night I got robbed twice last year and he felt the need for me to get my license to protect me and my kids,” Allen told an interviewer.
She was arrested, spent forty days in jail, and is now facing a mandatory minimum sentence of three years in prison, thanks to New Jersey’s harsh gun laws that leave judges little discretion, coupled with a county prosecutor who has discretion but refuses to exercise it.
New Jersey vs Marion Murphy
By on April 12, 2016 at 10:49 AM, updated April 12, 2016 at 5:06 PM
JERSEY CITY -- A Pennsylvania man arrested after carrying a shotgun in his truck this weekend near the Holland Tunnel told The Jersey Journal he thought he was transporting the weapon legally.
Marlon Murphy, 45, of Easton, appeared in Central Judicial Processing Court on the charge of unlawful possession of a weapon on Monday after spending Saturday night in jail.
By Your Actions Shall We Know Thee:
It's obvious from these few examples that the inequalities in the firearms laws from state-to-state have not only caused a lot of confusion over the years, but have caused the innocent victims caught in these mouse-traps to suffer from embarrassment, indignities, jail time and expenses for acting as the honest citizens they were ... in their own state.And it's also obviously time for the Supreme Court to step up and provide some leadership in how the individual states can normalize their firearm laws so that honest citizens (in one state) can travel innocently to another state without being charged with felonies without changing ONE DAMN THING in the way they transport their legal firearm.
CHANGE IN THE SUPREME COURT:
Unfortunately, given the presidential election, the admitted bias against private firearms ownership of the liberal candidates, and the odious nature of all candidates ... it's difficult to assume that these legal over-reaches will be resolved in the coming Presidential Administration.*
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The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is a U.S. Federal court withappellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:
- District of Alaska
- District of Arizona
- Central District of California
- Eastern District of California
- Northern District of California
- Southern District of California
- District of Hawaii
- District of Idaho
- District of Montana
- District of Nevada
- District of Oregon
- Eastern District of Washington
- Western District of Washington
It also has appellate jurisdiction over the following territorial courts:
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