Dennis Henigan wrote a wonderful article about some of the legal disappointments suffered by the NRA, in particular the one in Texas about 18-year-old concealed carry.
The NRA’s biggest problem, though, was that Judge Cummings was careful to read the Supreme Court’s Heller opinion and understand that it does nothing to support the gun lobby’s constitutional extremism. Much to the NRA’s chagrin, Judge Cummings emphasized that the right recognized in Heller was, in his words “quite narrow,” finding that “the Second Amendment does not confer a right that extends beyond the home.” Judge Cummings cited the legion of other post-Heller rulings also confining Heller’s scope to the possession and carrying of guns within the home. Not only did the NRA’s handpicked federal judge find no constitutional right for an 18-year-old to carry handguns in public, he found no such right for anyone to do so. It is also worth noting that, four months ago, Judge Cummings rejected another NRA lawsuit and upheld the federal ban on gun dealer sales of handguns to persons under 21 years of ago, a restriction that obviously impacts the freedom of young people to have a gun inside the home for self-defense.Sometimes it seems like the gun-rights extremists have to be hit in the head with a 2 by 4 before they listen up. What could be more ridiculous than saying it's a constitutional right for 18-year-olds, or anyone else for that matter, to carry a concealed weapon?
When a gun-friendly judge says it's not, I guess it really isn't. What's your opinion?
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