The Constitutional Right to Keep and Bear Nunchucks?
Last month, Brian Doherty wrote about the Second Circuit's ruling in Maloney v. Cuomo, which held that the 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms does not apply against the states. Eugene Volokh speculates today on whether the Supreme Court is likely to hear Jim Maloney's appeal, given that he's charged with violating New York's ban on nunchakus, or "nunchucks":
Kirkland & Ellis (which is doing this case pro bono) is a top-notch law firm, with a top-notch Supreme Court practice. My guess is that the Supreme Court would prefer to consider the incorporation question in a case that involves more common facts, and that doesn't raise the additional legal question of whether nunchakus qualify as "arms" for Second Amendment purposes. But it's hard to tell for sure: It's possible for the Justices to use the case to decide the purely legal question of whether the Fourteenth Amendment incorporates the Second Amendment and thus constrains the states to respect an individual right to keep and bear arms. The Justices must be aware that the question is out there in lots of cases.
Whole thing here. My case for why state governments should respect the 2nd Amendment here. Brian Doherty's definitive Gun Control on Trial here.
