Public Health Crunch

Handgun related violence epidemic will begin today in Washington DC

A split Supreme Court today declared that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to own guns for self-defense, striking down the District of Columbia’s ban on handgun ownership as unconstitutional.  Be prepared for an increase in gun violence in DC.

District of Columbia officials argued they had the responsibility to impose “reasonable” weapons restrictions to reduce violent crime. Intrestingly Justice Breyer argued in his dissent that the framers of the Constitution did not present self-defense as their main reason for the Second Amendment. “The self-defense interest in maintaining loaded handguns in the home to shoot intruders is not the primary interest, but at most a subsidiary interest,” he wrote. “The Second Amendment’s language, while speaking of a ‘militia,’ says nothing of ’self-defense.’ “