Guns in the (Court)House

I suppose the Supreme Court is saving the best for last. Of course, I'm talking about the Heller case, regarding DC's handgun ban. A Key Case on Gun Control. It is widely expected that the court will find that the 2nd Amendment grants an individual right to bear arms and strike down the DC ban. However, there will likely be some permissible limits on ownership. See, e.g., Staring down the barrel and Sanity and the Second Amendment.

In the interim, a gun-related incident in Pittsburgh made me think about my earlier post on guns in the courthouse post-Heller, see Gun Free Zone.

Via Keystone Politics, I read that a radio reporter was arrested in Pittsburgh after he tried to enter the courthouse in Allegheny County with a loaded pistol. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported, KDKA radio reporter caught with loaded gun:

A Pittsburgh radio reporter was arrested Monday morning after authorities said he tried to bring a loaded pistol into the Allegheny County Courthouse.

William Robert Milford, 53, of Castle Shannon -- known on KDKA Radio as Rob Milford -- was charged with carrying a firearm without a license and possessing a firearm in a court facility, county Sheriff Bill Mullen said.

Milford had the loaded .38-caliber revolver in his briefcase about 9:30 a.m. when he tried to pass through a courthouse entrance protected by a metal detector and security guard, Mullen said. The gun was confiscated and sheriff's deputies arrested Milford.

Milford told officers he forgot the gun was in the briefcase, Mullen said. It remained unclear why he was carrying the weapon.

In the aftermath of this episode, Milford was pressured to resign by the radio station, after he was was charged with carrying a firearm without a license and possession of a firearm in a court facility. KDKA Radio's Milford resigns over gun incident.

The irony is just too much. As I noted in my previous post, I speculated that despite the expected ruling in favor of individual rights to gun ownership under the 2nd Amendment, I was sure that the Court would somehow stop short of permitting an unfettered right to bear arms. After all, the court wants to prevent gun toting citizens like Milford from coming to court with their six-shooters.

My prediction is that the Court will find the right to bear arms may be an individual right under the 2nd Amendment, but it stops at the courthouse door.