By striking down the District of Columbia's extraordinarily strict gun control law, which essentially bans guns, a federal appeals court may have revived gun control as a political issue. It has been mostly dormant since autumn 2000, when Al Gore decided he was less interested in it than in carrying states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania: "Gore Tables Gun Issue As He Courts Midwest" (The New York Times, Sept. 20, 2000). The appeals court ruling appalls advocates of gun control laws, and should alarm the Democratic Party.

The court ruled 2-1 that D.C.'s law, which allows only current and retired police officers to have handguns in their homes, violates the Constitution's Second Amendment: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."Read this article in full with a
Plus Edition account.Click here to learn more