The Supreme Court ruled that Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense and hunting, the justices’ first major pronouncement on gun rights in U.S. history.
The court’s 5-4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia’s 32-year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment. The decision went further than even the Bush administration wanted, but probably leaves most firearms laws intact.
Because Texas is one of the states that historically has permitted gun ownership, “the Supreme Court decision won’t have any effect on laws we have in Texas,” said Bell County District Attorney Henry Garza.
“What the Supreme Court has done is struck down the D.C. law. It was quite different,” Garza said.
Shannon Edmonds, staff attorney with the Texas District and County Attorneys Association, said the association does not take positions on legislation or court opinions, but he agreed with Garza that the decision will not impact Texas law.
“It’s no big deal from a legal point,” Edmonds said.
Gun ownership advocates, however, saw the decision as a victory.
“The Supreme Court put a stamp on the Second Amendment right we should have anyway,” said Mike Weber, who owns Weber & Sons in Temple - a firearm and shooting center he’s had for 32 years. “They upheld a law that never should have been in question. My hat’s off to them.”
Weber said there was concern the decision could go the other way.
“There’s always concerns when legal minds get together,” he said. “They twist and contort things so that it doesn’t look recognizable to what the Founding Fathers meant.”
He said that how the Second Amendment is worded - using the term “militias” - is what has brought confusion. However, the Founding Fathers’ intentions were clear concerning the right for the average citizen to own a gun in order to defend their home, he said.
“We’ve just messed up on interpretation of it,” he said.
Weber said he believed that even those who don’t care to own a gun “will be glad the right to do so was upheld.”
Leland Kjelland, owner of Mid-City Pawn, which sells guns, called it a “great decision.”
“This is a win for those of us who appreciate guns because now the Second Amendment has given us that right,” Kjelland said.
The Texas State Rifle Association, in conjunction with the 39 other State Firearms Associations, released a statement Thursday expressing its gratitude for the opinion, writing that it was a victory for gun owners, not only in the Lone Star State, but across the United States.
When the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case last November, the Texas State Rifle Association took the lead role in organizing the coalition of like-minded associations to file an amicus curiae, or “Friends of the Court” that became titled as the State Association Brief.
The brief argued, among other things, that the long-standing participation of these groups with the federal government’s Civilian Marksmanship Program was vital in preparing the nation for inevitable future conflicts by teaching marksmanship. The brief even cited the Texas State Rifle Association’s involvement in conducting Squad Designated Marksmanship Training for troops headed to Iraq and Afghanistan as recently as 2005.
The contributed to this report.
