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Old January 25, 2020, 01:11 PM   #1
Brownstone322
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 18, 2017
Location: Virginia, USA
Posts: 277
Virginia Bans and the Federal Courts

I was browsing another forum, and I encountered this question:

Will the Virginia gun laws eventually be struck down by the Supreme Court?

And it had this one reply:

Maybe. But it depends on which law you’re referring to and what you’re trying to argue.

Restrictions on "assault firearms" and "high-capacity" magazines could well be vulnerable to the doctrine of "common use for lawful purposes" established in DC v. Heller in 2008. The state would be challenged to demonstrate that what it describes as "illegal assault firearms" have any history of criminal use in Virginia, especially relative to their popularity. Similarly, Virginians own untold millions of what the state declares to be "illegal high-capacity magazines," a number that dwarfs their relevance to criminal use. The state would have to explain when and where and how capacity has been of any consequence, not just for one or two events, but relative to "common use." Assuming the high court is serious about "common use for lawful purposes," these arguments would be difficult ones for the state to make.

In recent years, the high court has declined to address bans on "assault weapons," likely because the court members who are constitutionally opposed to such bans haven’t been comfortable that they’d have the votes in the end. But now, with the switch from Kennedy to Kavanaugh, the prospects for the court hearing a challenge have improved, as John Roberts now represents the closest thing to a swing vote.


I'm not a lawyer, but I like to think I'm reasonably well informed, and I know that a legal argument consists of a helluva lot more than parroting "shall not be infringed." Many people here are lawyers, so how does this argument hold up?
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