Otis McDonald is an American hero! A working-class man who lived an honest life and felt helpless as his Chicago neighborhood spiraled downward into the gang and drug culture prevalent in most US cities. Mr. McDonald took his fight to own a hand gun all the way to the US Supreme Court.
In a 5-4 split decision, the Court decided that the Chicago gun-control laws were in violation of McDonald's 2nd Amendment freedoms. Hats off to our 5 Supreme Court justices who still hold to an originalist view of our Constitution and Bill of Rights. The other 4 justices--well--let's just say it is scary that 4 of our 9 justices have such low regard for the 2nd Amendment.
Solution: The US should amend the Constitution to require that Supreme Court Justices be reaffirmed by the Senate every 8 or 10 years.
There are hundreds of articles about McDonald v. City of Chicago. Here are clips from a couple that show some good background to McDonald's story.
High Court To Define Reach Of Gun-Control LawsMcDonald got involved with his states gun owner rights organization, the Illinois State Rifle Association. Otis said:
By Joan Biskupic, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — In 2008, when national gun rights advocates were looking for residents to challenge Chicago's ban on handguns, Otis McDonald was in effect looking for them. McDonald, 76, says he had seen his neighborhood on the far South Side of Chicago turn from bad to worse over the years with "gangbangers and drug dealers."
"My wife and I are here alone all the time now," says McDonald, a retired maintenance engineer, who with his wife, Laura, reared three children. "I've got burglar alarms hooked into the police department. I have a shotgun, but a handgun (would be) more handy for me to handle."
"I said the Lord is hearing my prayer," recalls McDonald of meeting Gura [gun-rights attorney] and other gun rights lawyers in early 2008. "They never pressed me. I'm not doing this for them. I am doing this for me."The Gulf Coast Simpleton would like to give a 4th of July salute to Otis McDonald--American Hero.
McDonald had been trying for years to protect himself and other seniors in the deteriorating neighborhood.
Crime in McDonald's area has been steadily rising, although it is mainly property crime rather than violent assaults, according to Chicago police district statistics. Burglaries and thefts are the most common types of crimes in the district. There were 881 burglaries reported in 2006, 1,109 in 2007 and 1,215 in 2008, the most recent annual report available. There were 17 murders in 2008, a number that has held steady since 2006.
McDonald says he often challenged young drug dealers as they hung around idling cars and warned that he would alert the police: "They'd just call me, 'You old gray-headed so-and-so' and say they'd get me."
McDonald took the threats seriously.
When he first got involved with the Illinois State Rifle Association, he was a rare voice from his South Side neighborhood.
"I was probably the only black at that first meeting" in Springfield, McDonald says. "I met a lot of people. Everybody was friendly." The Army veteran adds that "it was like a bunch of old GIs getting together. ... I liked their message."
