Bill McCollum: Standing up for our Second Amendment

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Bill McCollum: Standing up for our Second Amendment

“Standing up for our Second Amendment”
TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT
By Bill McCollum
March 2, 2010

“For gun owners and Second Amendment advocates, the U.S. Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller was a landmark case overturning an unconstitutional ban on firearm ownership. The court held that the federal right to keep and bear arms is an individual right, as meaningful today as in the founding of our country.

“Today, the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments in the case McDonald v. Chicago to decide whether gun rights apply to state and local governments just as with the federal government. I have joined several other attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in support of our fundamental right to keep and bear arms.

“The city of Chicago prohibits possession of unregistered firearms. The city also refuses to issue registration certificates for handguns. Failure to have one of these registration certificates subjects handgun owners in Chicago to having their guns confiscated. The petitioners seeking relief in this case are ordinary people who want to own handguns in their homes for personal protection. The local regulation in Chicago effectively takes away their Second Amendment rights.

“The key issue before the U.S. Supreme Court is whether the Second Amendment's federal constitutional right should be incorporated under the 14th Amendment to apply to all states and cities, just as do other federal rights such as free speech or no unreasonable searches and seizures. If Chicago's unconstitutional and unfair law is allowed to stand, nearly 3 million residents, and possibly millions more in other cities, will essentially be denied their right to keep and bear arms under the U.S. Constitution.

“The right to keep and bear arms has been a fundamental right since our nation's founding. As early as 1765 in England, William Blackstone published commentaries explaining that the right to bear arms was a fundamental right that arose from the natural right of self-preservation. The American colonists considered the right to arms as a primary right of Englishmen. The ‘Federalist Papers’ contain numerous references to the importance of the right to bear arms, and how essential it was to preserve this right along with other fundamental freedoms.

“Florida's Constitution provides: ‘The right of the people to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves and of the lawful authority of the state shall not be infringed, except that the manner of bearing arms may be regulated by law’ (Article 1, Section 8). Florida has a state constitutional right that is close to the Second Amendment as determined by the U.S. Supreme Court in Heller.

“Not all states do. Florida is an example to other states that stronger individual gun rights help protect our citizenry and ultimately help ensure public safety. If Florida's right is ever threatened, a Second Amendment right that is incorporated to the states will continue to protect the rights of Floridians in the future.

“While state and local governments have the power to legislate and regulate, this power does not include the power to experiment with people's fundamental rights. The Second Amendment is an important right of every American, and it should be treated as equally important as our other fundamental rights under the U.S. Constitution. When the U.S. Supreme Court hands down its decision, let's hope that's the way the court sees it, too.”

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