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Brady Campaign tried to abort Parker v. DC
Leibowitz's Canticle has revealed that Brady Campaign admits it tried to talk DC into amending its gun law, in order to moot the Parker appeal. (Scroll down on that page, I can't find a way to link to the specific post).
"Helmke, of the Brady Campaign, said the group suggested to Washington that it rework its gun laws rather than press on with an appeal. A broad Supreme Court ruling on the Second Amendment could jeopardize a variety of laws, including waiting periods for handgun sales and California's machine gun ban, he said."
This bears out what I'd said to some friends a way back -- if you think some of the pro-gun side are worried about the Parker outcome, I'd wager that many of the anti-gun side are absolutely terrified of it! Litigation is always a roll of the dice, the only question is whether you like the odds, and our odds are good. They have far more at risk; right now in court the 2nd amendment is a reality only in DC and in the 5th Circuit (Tex., La, one other state, I think) and about everywhere else for courtroom purposes, the 2nd A. is no protection at all.
They might not even be able to win by winning. A ruling the other way will fire up the gun movement, perhaps resulting in a pro-gun White House, which (given the ages of the Supremes) might mean as many as four new appointments that might eventually rolling things back. From their standpoint, they have everything on the table, bad odds, and a risk of a bad longterm outcome even were they to win.
Comments
I think Mayor Fenty got a lot of mail encouraging him to appeal from gun owners who were pretending to be gun control advocates. I know I wrote him.
Posted by: Chris at October 8, 2007 11:42 AM
The link to the specific post is in the timestamp:
http://canticleforleibowitz.blogspot.com/2007/10/brady-campaign-nervous-admits-effort-to.html
Posted by: Kevin P. at October 8, 2007 03:08 PM
That link does nto work, are you sure it's correct or has the post been taken down?
Posted by: Jim at October 8, 2007 05:21 PM
I may be a gambler, but I don't like the odds... yet. I'd rather see SCOTUS deny cert on this one, then take the issue up again with another circuit case AFTER President Thompson has had a chance to replace Justice Stevens.
Posted by: Gullyborg at October 9, 2007 01:23 PM
I might suggest that recent Wisconsin state court rulings (the Vegas cases, I think) have been affirmative of the 2nd amendment.
Perhaps the post only referred to Federal-level courts.
In Wisconsin, the concealed-carry ban was essentially voided in the case of the pizza-delivery driver who twice used a pistol to defend himself, with a Wisconsin Circuit Court saying that his convictions violated his 2nd Amendment rights.
http://www.wisconsinconcealedcarry.com/vegas.html
Posted by: WPZ at October 10, 2007 07:39 AM