Yesterday, the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued one of the best and most important rulings I’ve seen from a high court in a long time: It overturned the District of Columbia's ban on owning and registering handguns as unconstitutional.

You can read the decision HERE.

By a 2-1 majority, the court ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to own guns (although they agree that government can restrict people from owning guns which are generally used for criminal activity, and they seemed to accept that government can require gun registration.) They also ruled that a city can not require an individual to follow gun storage/safety laws which render the gun not useful for home defense; for example, a requirement to keep a gun unloaded and/or with a trigger lock were found by the Circuit Court to be unconstitutional.

Although it’s fairly long, the actual text of the ruling is well worth a read. The two-judge majority demonstrates a most commendable adherence to the obvious intent (not to mention the clear language) of the Second Amendment by using historical references including other parts of the Bill of Rights.

Their logic is, at least to me, compelling. Indeed, it is fairly incredible that any jurisdiction could argue with a straight face what the Appellees (in this case, the District of Columbia) argued, i.e. that the Second Amendment only applied to constructing a citizen military so that it is now effectively “dead letter”.

Many states, including Colorado, sided with the Appellants, in particular with Mr. Dick Heller (as the other Appellants were not deemed to have standing to sue.) But the more liberal states and jurisdictions, including (not surprisingly) Massachusetts, Maryland, New York City, New Jersey, and Chicago, sided with the District of Columbia against the right of the people to keep and bear arms.

The court’s decision is rational, sober, and almost certain to be appealed to (and accepted by) the Supreme Court, in large part because the exceptionally liberal Ninth Circuit had previously ruled that the Second Amendment did not protect what it obviously says it does.

Given the Supreme Court’s insane decision in Kelo v New London it is far from certain that plain language will win the day. But the DC Circuit’s decision is compelling in its facts and its simplicity, and I hope that the Supreme Court will side with the DC Circuit rather than the Ninth Circuit, and strike a blow for “strict construction” and liberty.