Convention indicates Democrats appear ready to step up push for gun-law reform

[billh58]

For three decades the extremist leaders of the modern National Rifle Association have focused on making it tough for politicians, almost all of them Democrats, who dare to argue in favor of perfectly reasonable gun-law reforms.

They have demonized state legislators, governors, congresspersons, senators, and presidents, which has in turn ​intimidated other such leaders into silence and policy paralysis—or, worse, spurred them into loosening gun-related restrictions on carrying firearms openly or concealed just about anywhere the carriers wish.

They have attacked Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as “gun-grabbers,” and incited racist and sexist rhetoric from some gun-owners about those two and other reform politicians.

For the first two days of the Democratic National Convention, not much was said about gun-related violence. But on Wednesday, you could see from the line-up of speakers that the leadership of the Democratic Party has had its fill of this lethal and lucrative nonsense from the gun lobby.

One of the speakers, Erica Smegielski, said she wished she could be with her mother this year watching the convention. But she couldn’t because her mother was the Connecticut principal at Sandy Hook Elementary School who died in the massacre of first-graders and educators there in 2012. Smegielski told the delegates that “what we need is another mother who’s willing to do what’s right. Whose bravery can live up in equal measure to my mom’s. What we need is to elect Hillary Clinton.”

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/7/28/1553524/-Convention-indicates-Democrats-are-appear-ready-to-step-up-push-for-gun-law-reform

Second Amendment absolutists and NRA/ILA apologists are fond of using the term "gun grabber" when referring to we Democrats who are calling for stricter gun control and mandating gun owner responsibilities. The Second Amendment does not preclude regulation aimed at protecting the citizens of this country from gun violence and gun extremism.

We must elect Democrats to all levels of government and demand that they roll back the obscene open/concealed carry laws introduced over the past three decades by the NRA and their criminal arm ALEC.

[guillaumeb]

1. Heller v. DC specifically allows for reasonable restrictions.

And the make up of the SCOTUS and Congress in large part determine what is reasonable.

And given that the Heller decision showed no respect for prior decisions, nothing precludes a new SCOTUS from overturning the outlier Heller decision.

Edited to add: Recommended. We need to change the dialogue and the framing of the debate by changing opinion one voter at a time, one legislator at a time.

[mwrguy]

2. Heller won't last forever

[procon]

3. Things are looking up.

Ultimately this will go to the U.S. Supreme Court, but not until a new justice is seated... which will be the choice of a Democratic President.

Appeals Court Upholds ‘Concealed Carry’ Restrictions

Americans have no Second Amendment right to carry concealed guns in public, a federal appeals court in California ruled on Thursday in a significant blow to gun-rights activists and gun owners in a large swath of the Western U.S.

The San Francisco-based Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 7-4 ruling, upheld a California law requiring residents to show “good cause” for carrying a concealed handgun.

...

“We hold that the Second Amendment does not preserve or protect a right of a member of the general public to carry concealed firearms in public,” wrote Judge William A. Fletcher, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, for the seven-judge majority.

Lawmakers are free to enact “any prohibition or restriction a state may choose” on the carrying of concealed guns, Judge Fletcher said.


A Second Amendment right to carry a firearm openly in public may exist, but the Supreme Court hasn't answered that question, Judge Fletcher wrote.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/appeals-court-upholds-concealed-carry-restrictions-1465483920

[billh58]

4. Thanks for posting this important decision which

proves that public opinion and common sense are prevailing against the right-wing gun lobby. A little history:

On February 13, 2014:

two conservative (read right-wing) judges in a 2-1 decision, from the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said San Diego County violates the Constitution's Second Amendment by requiring residents to show "good cause" - and not merely the desire to protect themselves - to obtain a concealed-weapons permit.

The gun nut crowd hailed this as a "done deal" and a "landmark" decision and ridiculed California Attorney General Kamala Harris for even attempting to "infringe" on these extremists' Liberty and Freedom guaranteed by the holy Second Amendment.

Skip to June 8, 2016:

A federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled Thursday that the Second Amendment of the Constitution does not guarantee the right of gun owners to carry concealed weapons in public places, upholding a California law that imposes stringent conditions on who may be granted a concealed-carry permit.

The 7-to-4 ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, overturned a decision by a three-judge panel of the same court and was a setback for gun advocates. The California law requires applicants to demonstrate “good cause” for carrying a weapon, like working in a job with a security threat — a restriction sharply attacked by gun advocates as violating the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

“Based on the overwhelming consensus of historical sources, we conclude that the protection of the Second Amendment — whatever the scope of that protection may be — simply does not extend to the carrying of concealed firearms in public by members of the general public,” the court said in a ruling written by Judge William A. Fletcher.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/10/us/second-amendment-concealed-carry.html?_r=0

Heller confirms this, and if the gun nut lobby tries to take this to the SCOTUS, they most likely won't hear it. Another victory on the way to combating gun violence and standing up against the extremist gun cult in our country.

This decision also protects Hawaii's concealed carry restrictions.