Hat Tip to Ace of Spades.
Short background: the Bill of Rights speaks of limitations of the federal government over citizens. It does not, by its own operation at least, restrict how the states may limit freedoms.
However, the 14th Amendment states the privileges and immunities of citizenship shall not be abridged by the states. Most (but not all) rights in the Bill of Rights have been “incorporated” by the 14th Amendment over time, case by case. Only a small few rights haven’t been incorporated — stuff like whether or not a jury must (as it does in federal courts) consist of 12 persons.
And, notably — the 2nd Amendment was never incorporated as a right of each and every citizen, which could be vindicated in a suit against the state government as well.
….Who were the judges?
The unanimous panel was Judge O’Scannlain (Reagan appointee), Judge Alarcon (Carter appointee), and Judge Gould (Clinton appointee).
http://minx.cc/?post=286244
The surprising thing here is the decision was rendered by the Ninth District Court; notorious for being the most leftwing judiciary in the country—and the most overturned.
The pro-armed citizen stance is very profound, especially in the following summation by Judge O’Scannlain:
We therefore conclude that the right to keep and bear arms is “deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition.” Colonial revolutionaries, the Founders, and a host of commentators and lawmakers living during the first one hundred years of the Republic all insisted on the fundamental nature of the right. It has long been regarded as the “true palladium of liberty.” Colonists relied on it to assert and to win their independence, and the victorious Union sought to prevent a recalcitrant South from abridging it less than a century later. The crucial role this deeply rooted right has played in our birth and history compels us to recognize that it is indeed fundamental, that it is necessary to the Anglo-American conception of ordered liberty that we have inherited.
More at The Volokh Conspiracy:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_04_19-2009_04_25.shtml#1240249775