Gun Decisions

Actor Charlton Heston wrote (letter, June 1) that the Founding Fathers “did indeed mean that individual citizens have the right to keep and bear arms.” In fact, for over a century the U.S. Supreme Court has explicitly denied any such right. Heston needs to read U.S. vs. Cruikshank (1875), Presser vs. Illinois (1885) and what is usually considered the definitive decision, U.S. vs. Miller (1939), which upheld the constitutionality of the National Firearms Act.

These were only three of the many cases cited by the California State Supreme Court in 1969 when it unanimously denied a challenge to San Francisco’s gun registration ordinance. The argument that gun control laws violate the Constitution, the justices wrote, “has been rejected by every court which has ruled on the question.” Since Heston and his ilk insist on ignoring these decisions, the only solution is to repeal the 2nd Amendment.

FORREST G. WOOD

Bakersfield