"Second Amendment Law Lessons: Look Beyond the Courts for Freedom"
Excellent advice from Prof. Glenn Harlan Reynolds (InstaPundit), in USA Today.
D.C. v. Heller and McDonald v. City of Chicago were important, symbolically and in the long term (because symbolism often matters in the long term). But the concealed-carry revolution, carried on over the last 30 years in state legislatures throughout the country, has been much more practically significant: From about ten states in 1986 in which pretty much any law-abiding adult could get a license to carry a concealed gun (or didn't even a license), we've moved to about forty such states (see the animation below, by Jeff Dege). And with a very few exceptions—mainly Illinois, which went shall-issue as a result of Second Amendment litigation, and perhaps Vermont, which hasn't required a license since a 1903 Vermont Supreme Court state constitutional right to bear arms case—this has stemmed from legislative victories. As Glenn says,
There are two lessons [here]…. One is that courts can't always be counted on. The other is that there are other ways to protect civil rights than filing a lawsuit. Just as Brown v. Board of Education got the desegregation ball rolling, but it took the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a decade later, to really affect institutions, I think it's fair to say that the Heller decision made a difference, but legislation is having more of an actual impact.
[UPDATE: To see an animated version of the item below, click here; I'm not sure why this version doesn't come out animated.]
