Locks, Stocks, and Two Smoking Barrels

Between guns and oil/stocks, today was a pretty impressive day. I have only begun to wade through this gargantuan opinion, and will likely just skim it because it is unlikely that I will be working on anything over the next two months that will be affected by this ruling (one would hope). Surprisingly (and yet, not very surprisingly), my 5-4 prediction came true. The opinion for DC v. Heller can be found on SCOTUS's site. See also High Court Strikes Down Gun Ban; Heller Discussion Board (SCOTUS Blog): "Clarity is in the Eye of the Beholder"; Scotus initial entry.

I haven't thought much about this case other than I think the majority got it right in principle, although I haven't sifted through the reasoning yet to determine whether I agree or not. And of course, the line about being able to dial the police in one hand with the gun pointed at the robber in the other is funny, and something I remember in a Bugs Bunny cartoon from when I was a kid. If I was a criminal defense attorney, notwithstanding the line about felons, I would be reading this opinion carefully and start raising challenges regarding every weapons offense my client was charged with. If I was a prosecutor, I would start boning up on this law since it's going to provide fodder across the board for years to come. And you thought Crawford caused a big mess for the courts to sort out.

I will say that my cursory glance of the opinion makes me wonder that if they have now read "self-defense" into the second amendment, can they still argue that this "right to privacy" should not have been read into the bill of rights in general? And I'll assume, for now, that this opinion is not a template for statutory construction. If anyone has any thoughts on these two points, feel free to chime in and point out whether my suspicions are grounded in fact or mere speculation. I'll read through the opinion myself soon enough and determine if there is anything worth contributing to the academic discourse beyond these minor blips on the blogging scale.

Beyond this smoking gun, the other big news today was the stock shock that sent the markets tumbling toward yet another devastating day. Even for those clerks going on to big firms in big cities, shouldn't the fact that so many aspects of our economy are tied to the stock market raise some eyebrows? This is a big problem that I try not to think about, but when it starts to mess with my long-term finances, it makes whoever's economic policy is opposite that of whatever got us into this mess worth looking into a little more. I just hope the market doesn't tank any more than it already has over the last six months, but I'm not holding my breath either. I should just liquidate and cut my losses now.

Tags: dc v heller, dc gun ban case