Ideal Candidate
Crime and Federalism, noting a potential second amendment case for the Supreme Court, writes:
This is almost a model test case on the incorporation question. Some have speculated that the reason four Jusices (sic) haven’t voted to grant cert. in other Second Amendment cases resulted from the lack of a good “test plaintiff.” Well, Bach is the perfect plaintiff.
David Bach, a Virginia resident and domiciliary, wants to carry his Ruger P-85 9mm pistol while visiting his parents in New York. He has a permit from the Commonwealth of Virginia to carry a concealed weapon. Bach is a model citizen – he holds a Department of Defense top secret security clearance, is a commissioned officer in the United States Naval Reserve, a veteran Navy SEAL, a lawyer employed by the Navy’s Office of the General Counsel, a father of three, and, perhaps most laudably, a son who regularly visits his parents in upstate New York. During the ten-hour drive between Virginia and Upstate New York, [his] family and [he] travel on dimly lit rural roads and busy streets and highways[,] some of which are in densely populated areas that have extremely high violent crimes rates.
People accused of gun crimes typically aren’t model citizens. But I don’t think that’s why the court won’t take such cases. My faith in the Supreme Court to rule in a second amendment case (particularly, to rule correctly) is almost non-existent.
May 9th, 2005 at 9:30 am
The only thing wrong with this case is that its a VERY ugly pistol.
May 9th, 2005 at 6:13 pm
I have more faith in the Supreme Court to rule at least semi-correctly on a Second Amendment case than I have in them to take such a case in the first place. A solid majority agreed in U.S. v. Verdugo-Urquidez that the Second Amendment means what it says. It just didn’t count for much because Verdugo-Urquidez was a Fourth Amendment case, not a Second Amendment one.