Editorial

Federal Court: Feel Good,

Good Enough for Gun Ban

David A. Lombardo

"If a ban on semi-automatic guns and large-capacity magazines reduces the perceived risk from a mass shooting, and makes the public feel safer as a result, that's a substantial benefit."

Judge Frank Easterbrook penned those majority opinion words when the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled earlier this week that the Highland Park assault weapon ban is constitutional. The Village of Highland Park didn't have an assault weapons ban until the Seventh Circuit Court struck down Illinois' concealed carry ban. As a result there was a handgun preemption aspect to the subsequent legislation that struck down all handgun laws in Illinois other than those enacted by the State of Illinois itself. Unfortunately the legislation also gave a brief grace period after enactment during which communities could implement an assault weapon ban. Highland Park was one of a handful of communities that did.

Being somewhat close to the case, I anticipated there would be a negative ruling from the beginning. It is, after all, the Seventh and despite striking down Illinois' no concealed carry policy, the Seventh is not known for being pro-Second Amendment. However in Friedman v. Highland Park, the decision was not unanimous.

While Judge Easterbrook and Judge Ann Claire Williams constituted a majority, Judge Daniel Manion was loud-and-clear about his dissent. "To limit self-defense to only those methods acceptable to the government" creates an "enormous transfer of authority from the citizens of this country to the government - a result directly contrary to our constitution and to our political tradition," Manion wrote, focusing on the canard that the majority dismissed the constitutional challenge because other firearms, including handguns, are not illegal in Highland Park.

The battle may have been lost, but the war is not over, and the case shall move forward. It's not the fact that we lost in the Seventh that bothers me, it's how we lost. Listen to Judge Easterbrook's words closely: "If a ban on semi-automatic guns and large-capacity magazines reduces the perceived risk from a mass shooting, and makes the public feel safer as a result, that's a substantial benefit."

In the early 1960s Marshall McLuhan, a Canadian communications theorist, penned, "The medium is the message." He noted people tend to focus on the obvious and as a result often miss the subtle aspects going on in the background that will have a more far-reaching effect than expected. The ruling in Freidman v. Highland Park is feel-good politics at its worst, and while it may make some fraction of the population happy, it nonetheless trumps both fact and the right of John Q to protect himself against tyranny.

According to the majority members, what one feels-and not the facts-is justification for subverting the Constitution. It is common knowledge that the legislature makes feel-good laws, but the judiciary should be the arbiter of truth that provides the checks and balances envisioned by the Founding Fathers. If this ruling is allowed to stand, it will assuredly have a chilling effect on the future of this country-judicial rulings based upon what makes some fringe group happy. There is always wiggle room for liberals and conservatives alike to shape a ruling while adhering to the facts of the case. If those facts may be substituted for emotion, we are doomed as a rational civilization.