In 2008 the conservative majority of the Supreme Court greatly aided the gun cause by ruling that the Second Amendment guarantees a personal right to possess guns. The Court's majority ignored the historical context of the original provision authored by James Madison. He was concerned with the states' ability to raise and maintain effective, armed militias for the defense of the nation upon replacing the inadequate Articles of Confederation. The America of his time did not possess a huge standing army so it needed militias. This same underlying concern for militias is also responsible for the Third Amendment regarding the quartering of soldiers, hardly a live issue in the 21st century. Only jurists who have accepted originalism as their interpretive doctrine could conclude the Second Amendment means every citizen now has the right to own high-powered military weapons without limitation. The court struck down an absolute hand gun ban in Washington DC, but that does not necessarily mean gun possession cannot be regulated by the state because of a constitutional guarantee.
What may be concluded from these charts is the Democratic majority in the Senate must be willing to address the filibuster issue first, if it hopes to legislate on the issue of gun control. Without the ability to pass a bill over the certain objections of conservative senators, Democrats will not be in a position to gain enough House support to achieve a compromise. Meanwhile, Americans fearing a liberal instigated ban of some sort, are stocking up on guns. Unsurprising in a nation that equates a warm gun with freedom. The National Shooting Sports Federation is the official business lobby of the firearms industry:
