ownership of AR-15s is not protected by the 2nd Amendment.
According to CBS News:
"A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging Massachusetts' ban on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, saying in a ruling released Friday that the weapons fall beyond the reach of the Second Amendment. U.S. District Judge William Young said assault weapons are military firearms and aren't protected by the constitutional right to "bear arms." Regulation of the weapons is a matter of policy, not for the courts, he said.
"Other states are equally free to leave them unregulated and available to their law-abiding citizens," Young said. "These policy matters are simply not of constitutional moment. Americans are not afraid of bumptious, raucous and robust debate about these matters. We call it democracy." "
Young is at least the 5th federal judge to uphold a state's right to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines since the SCOTUS Heller decision. In that decision, while affirming the right to bear arms, Justice Scalia wrote that the 2nd Amendment does not necessarily extend to the use of military-style weapons by civilians. Today's ruling followed that precedent by saying that every state can decide for itself whether or not to regulate these types of weapons.
This is a huge victory for those of us who favor REASONABLE gun control. We're not trying to take all of your guns away, we just want the more dangerous ones to be regulated. |
