Pete Sessions: “The McDonald case was a hugely important case. It dealt for the first time in recent memory with the question of whether…”

“The McDonald case was a hugely important case. It dealt for the first time in recent memory with the question of whether the second amendment, which had been held in Heller to apply to the Federal Government, whether it passed through the 14th amendment to apply to all the States--and cities are creatures of States, so whether it applied to cities. This is a big deal because it is not generally so much the Federal Government that is willing to deny gun rights, but certain States and certain cities seem very aggressively willing to deny people's second amendment rights. The question for the Court was: Is it a fundamental right in the Bill of Rights, a stated fundamental right, and if it is fundamental, it passes through the 14th amendment and all States must comply with it, just as States must comply with the right to free speech and other rights in the Constitution. By a razor thin 5-to-4 majority, the Supreme Court in McDonald held that it is a fundamental right and does apply to the States, and no State, therefore, and no city can deny an individual right of an American citizen to keep and bear arms. This is a big, important case.”