D.C. lawyers think Bill of Rights doesn't apply to states

I've said it once today already: The Bill of Rights isn't negotiable. It's the law of the land.

Occasionally some not-so-great thinker expresses some fantasy about the Bill of Rights only restricting the actions of the federal government - not the state governments. However, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson would take issue with that. They did of course feel that the first 10 amendments protected Americans from not only federal abuses but also those of the states. Article VI of the Constitution seems to back up their view, and the Fourteenth Amendment later cleared up any disagreement about that. That states are barred from trampling personal freedoms outlined in the Bill of Rights has been settled law for nearly as long.

The District of Columbia's rigid gun laws are now the subject of a Supreme Court case by D.C. residents who feel these laws violate the Second Amendment's right to keep and bear arms. I fully expected lawyers for D.C. to argue that the right itself is limited regardless of whether the feds or states are doing the limiting. A common stance by gun rights opponents is that because the Second Amendment is the only one that mentions being "well regulated", it has to have some restrictions.

You can debate the exact meaning of that phrase until toilets baste. (I lean towards the side of gun rights.) But who would have ever thought D.C.'s lawyers would resort to a much more noxious tool in their arsenal by arguing that the Bill of Rights only bars federal actions?

Attorneys for D.C. say the Second Amendment only prevents the federal government from infringing on the right to bear arms. They claim it doesn't stop any of the 50 states or D.C. from doing so.

Voopvoopavoop wrong! One of the reasons the Fourteenth Amendment was passed was to make sure states respected the Bill of Rights.

If the Supreme Court actually buys the attorneys' argument, think what a shitty precedent that will set - because if the Second Amendment doesn't restrict state abuses, the rest of the Bill of Rights won't either. You'll see every wingnut state lawmaker in America trying to pass unconstitutional laws, suppressing everything from free speech to freedom from illegal searches, all under the excuse that the Supremes let the states violate the Bill of Rights. I guaran-fucking-tee it. That would be a policy windfall for the Wal-Nuts and programmies all over America.

And one more thing. You know what it's gonna be, don't you? That's right: The District of Columbia isn't a state but is under (drum roll, please) federal jurisdiction! So even if the argument about the Bill of Rights only preventing federal actions stands up, how does that not restrict what D.C. laws can do?

Congress's refusal to grant statehood to D.C. makes Congress partly responsible for the city's handgun ban. When the Republicans stole control of Congress in the '90s, one of their most notorious acts was seizing city functions that had been delegated to officials elected by the city's voters. (Congressional Republicans - elected largely from suburbs in the Sun Belt - were living out their own fantasy of suburban privilege.) The GOP Congress had 12 years to repeal the city's gun law but didn't, which means they supported the gun ban but would never admit it. If the Republican Congress truly opposed the law for being unconstitutional, why did they allow this law to stand while arrogantly reversing other D.C. laws? Congress taking control of the city's affairs was a nasty idea, but if I thought a law was unconstitutional, I'd support overturning it in any locale, not just D.C.

By arguing that the Bill of Rights only limits federal actions, D.C.'s attorneys are really making a case that's the exact opposite of what they're trying to make - because D.C. is under federal control. But let's hope the courts don't buy this malarkey about the Bill of Rights not limiting state acts, because that's a precedent America can't afford.

(Source: http://www.statesman.com/shared-gen/content/shared-gen/ap/National/Gun_Ban_Attorney.html)