The Supremes are considering the 2nd Amendment directly for the first time in some 70 years, and from the questions they asked, there seems to be no question that there is an individual right to bear arms in our Constitution. It looks like, rather than questioning if the right exists, the justices will be asking what reasonable restrictions can be implemented by the government.

I suspect the case will end with a referral back to the District, with instructions to draft a more reasonable set of laws. DC has the “strongest” (read, most restrictive) gun laws in the nation, yet the District also has the highest crime rate of the local area. A good blog post, along with some pretty good comments at Say Anything Blog point out that DC, as a “gun free zone”, has criminals coming in from more gun-friendly states nearby. The question has to be asked, why do the criminals travel to the gun free zone? Because they know Joe Homeowner isn’t going to be able to fight back.