Protecting our right to bear arms - senator weighs in

On March 12, the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia overturned Washington D.C.’s long standing ban on firearms as a violation of the Constitutional rights of D.C. residents.

The court stated that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to keep and bear arms. This decision was a pivotal step for protecting our Second Amendment rights and the way our courts view firearm laws.

The Second Amendment is a constitutional right, and no city, state or district has the authority to trample this right. The court’s ruling is a great example of conservative judicial temperament. For too long federal judges have been injecting personal policy stances into their legal opinions and recklessly expanding the power of our judicial branch. Judges should strictly interpret the law, not loosely interpret the law to insert their own personal opinions in policy issues.

I am working to protect our Second Amendment rights from overreaching state and federal laws. Last year I authored and passed critical Second Amendment legislation to prohibit the seizure of firearms based purely on the declaration of a major disaster or emergency. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the city of New Orleans confiscated more than 1,000 firearms from private citizens. With local law enforcement overwhelmed and stretched thin from this unprecedented disaster and lines of communication down, many of these firearms were confiscated from law-abiding citizens attempting to protect themselves and their property.

Fortunately, this legislation was signed into law by the president, and now we have a law to protect legal owners of firearms from these gross violations of the Second Amendment.

I am interested in hearing your thoughts about protecting our second amendment rights. Please let me know about this issue or other issues important to you by contacting me at any of my state offices or in my Washington office by mail at U.S. Senator David Vitter, U.S. Senate, 516 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510, or by phone at 202-224-4623.

David Vitter serves Louisiana in the United States Senate.