Just be clause

Justice Stephen G. Breyer and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. set the parameters for Tuesday's judicial battle over gun control. This time they were taking aim at Washington, D.C.'s, 31-year-old gun control law, the most restrictive in the country. The fight has come down to the initial clause of the Second Amendment :

"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state"

The lawyers for D.C. argue that this only guarantees a collective right. In fact, a great deal of the arguments were about semantics and what the Founding Fathers meant by "keep", "bear", "is." Indeed, the High Court historically has been rather unwilling to settle the matter over whether bearing arms is either a personal or collective right. What is clear is that gun control laws were designed to reduce and curb gun violence. A decision is expected in June. No matter how the court settles this case (and it probably will not favor the city of Washington, D.C., and other places, like Chicago, with similar laws) one thing is clear. This particularly needless and preventable health-care crisis is doomed to continue and will probably spread.