SC AG SIGNED AMICUS BRIEF TO SCOTUS RE: DC GUN BAN

The U.S. Supreme Court’s substantial 5-4 decision today that the District of Columbia’s 32-year-old ban on handguns is a violation of the rights granted by the Second Amendment was a major victory for South Carolina and Attorney General Henry McMaster, who signed an amicus brief in February.

“A strong Second Amendment is essential to our freedom,” McMaster said. “It is comforting that our highest court reaffirmed that right so clearly today.”

McMaster joined with 30 other attorneys general from around the country in the brief submitted to the United States Supreme Court in the matter of the District of Columbia v. Dick Anthony Heller.

The brief, submitted in February, urged the Court to affirm the judgment of the court of appeals, that held the gun ban violated Heller’s right under the U.S. Constitution to own a handgun or firearm for private use in his home.

This ruling marks the first time in American history that the nation’s highest court has ruled on the Second Amendment.

And the ruling will likely play into this year’s presidential election, noted State GOP Chairman Katon Dawson.

“[W]e know John McCain will appoint strict constructionist judges like those who declared today that law-abiding Americans have a constitutional right to keep and bear arms,” said Dawson. “Barack Obama has fought for strict gun control for years. As president he would not only have liberal anti-gun allies rubber stamping his legislation on Capitol Hill, he would also have the power to appoint activist anti-gun judges who would expand the role of the courts and impose their personal political will on democratically-elected legislative bodies.”

Congressman Joe Wilson called the decision, “a strong example of the need to support the appointment of jurists who will stand up for the principles of freedom our forefathers enumerated in the Constitution.”

Wilson noted the decrease in violent crimes in South Carolina following the passage of a concealed weapons law and said, “Now that the residents of Washington, D.C. have their constitutional rights restored, families can once again protect themselves and their property.”