Op-ed: Will Gun-Control Case Prompt a Constitutional Reawakening?

By Ashby Jones

Our interest in a single Supreme Court case has perhaps never been as high as it is in a case currently being briefed. The issues are fascinating on several levels, and the potential impact of a ruling is big.

The case is McDonald v. City of Chicago, for which the court granted cert on Sept. 30. The petitioners in the case, a group challenging a gun-control ordinance in Chicago, filed their brief with the court earlier this week. Were the court to adopt their position — something well within the realm of possibility — we could be looking at a significant shift in the way the justices view the Constitution and individual rights.

At issue, again, is the constitutionality of a gun-control ordinance in Chicago. The Supreme Court shot down Washington, D.C.'s gun-control ordinance two terms ago, in D.C. v. Heller. But the Heller opinion dealt with a federal statute, not a state statute, and several federal courts have since ruled that the Heller opinion does not apply to state statutes. That is, the Second Amendment does not (yet) apply to the states.

Click here to read the entire op-ed from the Wall Street Journal.

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