In an appearance on PBS’s “Charlie Rose: The Week” last Friday, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer waxed philosophical on the Second Amendment, arguing—with a straight face—that the Second Amendment doesn’t protect your individual right to own a gun to protect yourself in your own home.
With smug self-assurance, the proud and haughty jurist not only misquoted —slightly—the text of the Second Amendment, but also said that in his opinion, the constitutional provision merely prevents Congress from disbanding state militias, which, he concluded with a flourish, “is not the right of an individual to keep a gun next to his bed.”
The chilling truth behind Breyer’s pronouncement is that the Supreme Court is now apparently deadlocked, 4-4, with half the court agreeing with Breyer, and the other half agreeing that the right to arms is an individual right. The next president will tip the balance with his or her choice to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
