It has always been an individual right.

Today the Supreme Court issued their ruling on the Washington DC handgun ban. In it, they have done what no other US Supreme Court has done. They definitely affirmed that the second amendment guarantees the indvidual the right to gun ownership. It is not a state right, it is not a group right, it is an individual right.

There were some troubling comments from the dissenting Justices, like this one from Justice John Paul Stevens…

“[The majority] would have us believe that over 200 years ago, the Framers made a choice to limit the tools available to elected officials wishing to regulate civilian uses of weapons.”

He said such evidence “is nowhere to be found.”

This is such a red-herring because while technically true, it has absolutely NOTHING to do with why the second amendment was put into the Bill of Rights to begin with. The Framers were not concerned with the civilian uses of weapons, they were concerned that a goverment would become too oppressive and they wanted to make sure the populace would have the means to do what The Declaration of Independence lays out as our responsibility as a free people.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

The Second Amendment guarantees that individuals will have access to guns should the need to “throw off such government” arise.

Contrary to what the left is claiming, this does not negate all control over weapons in this country. Felons are still prohibited from owning guns as are the mentally ill. But, it does put to bed the issue as to whether a person has the right to own weapons.

WE, THE INDIVIDUALS, DO!

“Firearms stand next in importance to the constitution itself. They are the American people’s liberty teeth and keystone under independence … from the hour the Pilgrims landed to the present day, events, occurences and tendencies prove that to ensure peace security and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable … the very atmosphere of firearms anywhere restrains evil interference — they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.”

George Washington
First President of the United States