LETTERS
To the Editor:

At 10:06 a.m. on Tuesday, March 16, 2008, the Supreme Court of the United States began hearing oral arguments in District of Columbia v. Heller, the first major case in the adult lifetime of many grey beards (the last was in 1939) involving the "right of the people to keep and bear arms." Essentially, the D.C. gun laws (strictest in the nation) forbid ordinary citizens to "keep and bear" handguns and operable long guns for private use in their homes. We're not talking about forbidding citizens to carry machine guns on the street, we're talking about forbidding citizens to even possess a handgun in the privacy of their home. The case came before the Supreme Court on appeal by the city, after the U.S. Court of Appeals declared the city's gun bans unconstitutional. Most observers are reluctant to predict the outcome of the case, contending that the vote will probably be 5-4, one way or the other. Surprisingly, on Wednesday the Washington Post opined, "A majority of the Supreme Court indicated a readiness yesterday to settle decades of constitutional debate over the meaning of the Second Amendment by declaring that it provides an individual right to own a gun for self-defense." A decision from the Supremes could take two or three months. Meanwhile, here's hoping that the Post is right.

Cordially, Chuck Esposito

Suches, Ga.