Supreme Court Upholds 2nd Amendment Again

This is a good decision supporting individual liberty, but the closeness of the vote reminds me that elections have consequences.
Communities with strong gun control have high crime rates - based on those rates, they impose stricter controls on citizens and their guns.
Communities that allow or encourage gun ownership, and in particular, concealed carry, are rewarded with lower crime rates. From this we learn that criminals are smart enough to pick on unarmed victims.

ABC News: Supreme Court Says Americans Have Right to Own Guns:
"The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the District of Columbia cannot ban a citizen from keeping a handgun at home, throwing out one of the nation's strictest gun control laws.

The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote, supports the right to own guns. Writing for the 5-4 majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said that the Constitution protects an individual's right to keep and carry a gun. The decision will affect gun control laws across the country.

'We hold that the District's ban on handgun possession in the home violated the Second Amendment, as does its prohibition against rendering any lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense.'
. . .
Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito signed onto Scalia's opinion.

Justice John Paul Stevens, joined in opposition to the majority opinion by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter and Steven Breyer, the three other liberal members of the court, read his dissent from bench."

DCs requirement that guns be stored in inoperable condition makes as much sense as requiring that hammers be stored with the handles removed. If someone uses a gun irresponsibly, they should be prosecuted and punished, but making immediate use of an available gun impossible just provided criminals with more victims.

ABC News: Has the D.C. Gun Ban Prevented Bloodshed?:
"On Sept. 24, 1976, one of the toughest gun laws in the nation took effect in the District of Columbia, essentially outlawing the private ownership of new handguns in a city struggling with violence.
. . .
Since the ban was passed, more than 8,400 people have been murdered in the district, many killed by handguns. Nearly 80 percent of the 181 murders in 2007 were committed with guns.
. . .
To gun rights advocates, the numbers prove a different point: Violence continues unchecked despite the ban. And while criminals seem to be able to get guns with ease, law-abiding people are being denied the means to protect themselves, they say.
. . .
Homicides in the district did ebb over the next few years, largely following a national trend. In 1977, the U.S. Conference of Mayors reported robberies, assaults and homicides using handguns had fallen sharply in D.C. and concluded the ban was working. However, the results were challenged even by the city's police department, which said police tactics had contributed to the drop."