Political Hippo Circle Jerk - America, farg YEAH!

[ice grillin you]

are there laws eaglez that an indv. state could pass that would not ban guns outright but that still could be deemed unconstitutional....like how far could a state go with gun laws before it ended up in front of the supreme court

[ice grillin you]

and im not talking about something ludicrous like only redheaded millionaires over the age of 90 can own a gun

[Eagles_Legendz]

Depends...the two biggest cases addressed by the SCOTUS on that were within the last 6 years.  In DC v Heller the court held that Washington DC statute that they couldn't ban handguns because they counted as "arms" for the purposes of the 2nd amendment, and that it was unconstitutional to require things like shotguns to be kept unloaded (which I'm not sure I agree with but who am I to argue?).

That was just on the federal level regarding gun laws.  The second case was McDonald v Chicago and it dealt with state laws and basically said the 2nd amendment applies to states, and that Chicago (and other states) couldn't ban handguns and struck down provisions of the statute that were similar to the DC statute relating to rifles and shotguns. 

The court basically said in both cases that you could use a gun for traditionally lawful purposes (handguns for self defense, or owning a rifle for hunting would be another example).  Guns that were "common use" were protected (again, rifles and handguns).  The court said it's fine for a state to restrict where you can carry guns in public.  I think the court also let stand the restrictions of automatic and semi-automatic weapons in both of those cases.  So my understanding is that a state couldn't outright ban guns, or ban commons that in common usage.  But a state has a lot of latitude to regulate gun usage that isn't "common" and can restrict where you bring a weapon. 

The court hasn't really addressed increased regulation in terms of background checks and things like that to my knowledge.  I'm pretty sure a state would have the ability to apply pretty widespread regulation so long as it didn't disallow people to own things like handguns for private purposes.  Advanced types of guns being outlawed, background check requirements that are more exhaustive, and restrictions on where you can bring weapons all would seem to be constitutional I think.

[ice grillin you]

but both of those cases had to do with the outright ban of a kind of gun even if it didnt ban the right to own guns....i guess im more talking about massive restrictions such as where to carry or registration laws

i guess where it would get real iffy is if you started saying x person x person and y person cant own a gun......like if youve ever been guilty of any charge including misdemeanors and traffic citations

[Eagles_Legendz]

You can restrict people but it has to be for a legitimate government purpose.  So you couldn't arbitrarily pick out classes, you'd need to justify why certain people weren't getting guns.

I think a state has a lot of ability to limit where you can carry a gun but the court would cut down a law that went too far with this because they'd say you're essentially rendering the 2nd amendment ineffective if you restrict it too much.  I know that doesn't give a clear cut answer but with the court not going into this specifically, it's sort of guesswork about wherever the line would be.  Places of public interest can be restricted in terms of your right to carry a gun.  I don't know where the court would draw the line about going too far.  They won't allow you to circumvent the law about handguns by basically making them impossible to obtain via complex regulation and background checks.  So you can regulate and require background checks, but you can't pass legislation that is basically masked as background checks but the actual point of which is to be a de facto ban. 

Most of this is speculation because the court rarely hears 2nd amendment cases.

[PhillyPhreak54]

http://www.timesofisrael.com/a-new-israel-in-eastern-texas/



lil guy is chillin in New Israel already!

[MDS]

lol good thing im about to bail

no friday night football for them. can you imagine stubborn neanderthal israeli's vs. stubborn neanderthal texans in high school sports? someone would be dropped.

[PhillyPhreak54]

I'd fly down there just to watch that.

Friday Night Lights: New Israel vs Redneck High

[MDS]

you mean saturday night lights! ask friend of the jews havas, friday nights = shabbat.

[PhillyPhreak54]

http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/rob-ford-takes-leave-as-new-drug-video-emerges/article18354671/?service=mobile

Smoking crack again

[PhillyPhreak54]

@TorStarEditor: #ford Ford enraged at Muzik nightclub when #bieber asked if he had any crack cocaine. A wild ugly time. Kevin Donovan story breaking soon.

[Seabiscuit36]

He's just awesome.  American politics is just so passe'

[smeags]

jeb bush being encouraged to run for president by his smarter brother.

win !

[MDS]

http://gawker.com/anti-gay-marriage-gop-candidate-was-drag-queen-in-early-1572188256

another week, another closeted homophobic gop member turns out to be a drag queen

[Don Ho]

   Miss Mona!