A Good Day

We haven't gotten many of them lately, but today is one of them. The Supreme Court has upheld our second amendment rights (albeit on a very thin margin) and overturned an attempt by Washington D.C. to ban all law-abiding citizens from owning guns that were functional. Justice Scalia, whom I am honored to be able to call a fellow Alumnus of St. Francis Xavier H.S., delivered the majority opinion (pdf), preserving our rights - at least for the time being.

... the enshrinement of constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy choices off the table. These include the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home. Undoubtedly some think that the Second Amendment is outmoded in a society where our standing army is the pride of our Nation, where well-trained police forces provide personal security, and where gun violence is a serious problem. That is perhaps debatable, but what is not debatable is that it is not the role of this Court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct.