ENDURING LEGACY

by Bob Walsh

It is sometimes said by political junkies that the most important thing that a president does is appoint justices to the supreme court. Trump's appointment of Neil Gorsuch to SCOTUS is a case in point.

Up until nine years ago legal private ownership of handguns in D.C. was impossible. Then came the Heller decision. Of course the powers that be in D.C. continued to place obstructions in the path of legal ownership in the district resulting in further lawsuits, including Palmer vs. D.C. and Wrenn vs. D.C. These went after the "good cause" clause in the D.C. permitting process. A person wishing to have a gun must demonstrate "good cause" to the Chief of Police. Such requests were routinely denied. There was no such thing as actual "good cause" to the D.C. power structure.

Then came a three-judge panel of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. They ruled (2-1) that the "good cause" or "proper cause" clause was effective a denial of rights under the constitution and ruled that requirement invalid. D.C. appealed to the full District Court, which declined to consider the matter. That left D.C. the choice of appealing to SCOTUS or sucking it up and dealing with it. They chose to NOT appeal to SCOTUS. So now the District of Columbia has joined 42 other states (yes, I know, D.C. is not a state) in being a "shall issue" jurisdiction. That means the district MUST issue a carry permit to a person applying for one unless they can justify specifically a reason to not do so.

It is anticipated by Second Amendment advocates that D.C. will continue to be obstructive. They will restrict what sort of weapons you can own, what sort of weapons and maybe even what sort of ammunition you can carry. The matter will almost certainly be subject to further litigation.

IMHO even if Donald Trump does not do another damn thing during his term he has earned a spot on the "nice" list for appointing a good, solid conservative strict constructionist to the court. With luck he will be able to appoint another one or maybe even two. If that happens personal freedom and liberty may be protected for a while yet in the United States.

Now if it could just manage to work its way west to the Peoples Republic of California, that would truly be something to be thankful for.