The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the second amendment’s “right to
bear arms” is a national right, applying also to state and local
governments. Could this be the end of gun control in America? UCLA Law
Professor Adam Winkler says no and predicts that, despite the fact that
some pro-gun groups are calling it “landmark,” the decision “will have
remarkably little impact.” The Court has made clear that the right to
arms is “not unlimited,” though lawyers figure to profit nicely anyway
by challenging the country’s 20,000 or so state and local gun laws.
Also, the decision could complicate things for Supreme-Court nominee
Elena Kagan, whose Senate hearings begin this week. She figures to hear
more now about the issue; as a clerk to Justice Thurgood Marshall, she
once wrote that she was “not sympathetic” to gun-rights claims.