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gmckinl wrote:Posted in one of the many Heller threads...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj2L8OhR4ak

Mayor Fenty addressing the SCOTUS ruling today. This is clip running for 5:12. Note a couple of statements he makes...

+ most semi-automatic handguns generally remain illegal (2:45)
+ the police will make clear what handguns specifically may be registered (4:38)

What a piece of work...

I wish the decision had been clearer when it stated semi-automatics. Looking at the few references that I could find, they referred to semi-automatic versions of assault weapons, machine pistols and the like. I didn't find them all but I didn't come across any that said semi-automatic handgun. Though I sure somewhere in there there's probably one.

In my most humble opinion, this is one of the most import parts of the opinion:
"Putting all of these textual elements together, we find that they guarantee the individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation. This meaning is strongly confirmed by the historical background of the Second Amendment. We look to this because it has always been widely understood that the Second Amendment, like the First and Fourth Amendments, codified a pre-existing right. The very text of the Second Amendment implicitly recognizes the pre-existence of the right and declares only that it “shall not be infringed.� As we said in United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U. S. 542, 553 (1876), “[t]his is not a right granted by the Constitution. Neither is it in any manner dependent upon that instrument for its existence. The Second amendment declares that it shall not be infringed"

The Supreme Court's majority opinion affirmed the fact that the right to keep arms to defend oneself, one's family, and property is so basic a right that it is a given. The Second Amendment does not *GIVE* us the right the keep and bear arms, because the founding fathers believed that right was so obvious, so necessary, so basic, as not to need stating. The Second Amendment establishes a limitation upon the Government, that it has *NO* authority to infringe upon that right.