Justice for gun owners

[Glen3107]

An interesting editorial by Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation ( http://www.saf.org).and Dave Workman, senior editor of Gun Week ( http://www.gunweek.com ) published in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram today:

Justice for gun owners

http://www.star-telegram.com/245/story/422415.html

In a transparent exercise of political pandering, Clement and his colleagues named on the brief have strenuously, and correctly, argued that the Second Amendment protects an individual civil right, yet they insist that every restrictive gun law currently on the books should stand.

They want this case sent back to the lower courts for further consideration. Translation: Legal sleight of hand is being used to make the Second Amendment a right "in name only." And Clement appears to suggest that the longer the Supreme Court can put off deciding whether a restrictive gun law violates that important civil right, the better.

Perhaps the Clement brief should have come as no surprise. After all, the current Department of Justice has not been friendly toward individual rights -- portions of the Patriot Act, for example, have horrified civil libertarians and conservatives alike -- and it appears that Justice officials are simply trying to delay a ruling that they fear will challenge what they describe in their brief as "the government's interest."

Here's a news flash: We're talking about a constitutionally protected civil right, and the only interest that government should have is enforcing that right, not eroding it. The Clement brief reflects cowardice on the part of the Justice Department, and a desire for expediency over what is right when an insidious but politically correct gun law just might be struck down.