By Peggy Tartaro,
Executive Editor

It's no secret that magazines-especially bi-monthly ones-work well in advance of their cover dates to meet printing and delivery schedules. Although this issue is dated November/December, Fall is just ending as we finish. While it's markedly cooler, it isn't yet Winter, and full-bore year-end panic hasn't set in. (That's next week!)

Still, while there are a handful of weeks left on the calendar, it isn't too early to take stock of the year past, as long as we keep in mind that surprises-pleasant and not-are still possible before 2010 actually appears on Jan. 1.

For gunowners, 2009 was a year of taking a breath, and a deep one at that. The previous year had seen two major events which shifted the landscape for gunowners. One was the June Heller decision by the US Supreme Court and the other was the 2008 election, in which Barack Obama won the presidency and the Democratic Party took control of both the House and Senate.

Both events are still reverberating, and both events will play major roles in the lives of gunowners into 2010 and beyond.

The effects of Heller might be a little more stealthy, with the prospect of being longer-lived. While Heller overturned the District of Columbia's 30-year-old law banning handguns and its de facto ban on defense of the home with guns, it also opened the door for other suits to work their way up the judicial food chain.

Indeed, the McDonald suit detailed on Page 6 of this issue, was filed one hour after the 5-4 pro-gun ruling in Heller. Written arguments are due shortly in that case, in which The Second Amendment Foundation (parent of W&G), the Illinois State Rifle Association and four individual plaintiffs are seeking to overturn the City of Chicago's handgun ban, arguably the next most onerous law after DC's. Oral arguments possibly in February will be followed by the decision, as late as June of next year.

The court that hears McDonald is not the same court that heard Heller, although a convincing case can be made that the outlook of the Justices is the same. But at this point, it's merely an argument-Supreme Court Justices are appointed for life and many a president has been surprised (not always happily) by the philosophy that emerges from his appointee when he or she actually sits on the bench.

David Souter, who was replaced by Pres. Obama's first appointment to the high court, Sonia Sotomayor, was appointed by a center-right president, George H.W. Bush, who likely did not think Souter would be the consistent liberal voice he became on the Court.

Sotomayor could surprise people, or perhaps, one or more of the other three judges who voted against Heller who are still on the court, could be persuaded by a different set of plaintiffs and different arguments in the Chicago case. (The lead attorney, Alan Gura, is the same.)

It is also possible that Obama may need to appoint one or more new justices between now and June. And one or more changes to the Supreme Court could make a big difference.
Which gets us back to the other major event of 2008, still impacting 2009, and beyond.

That Barack Obama is anti-gun is undeniable. Even as he has unconvincingly denied it. That the leadership of the Democratic Party and the majority of its affiliated elected officials are anti-gun is also undeniable. Even as they deny it.

It's also undeniable that Obama, and some of the Democratic members of Congress could not have been elected without the votes of people who identify themselves as pro-gun.

That's the way politics work-not only are they, in Tip O'Neill's famous phrase, "local," they are also always "personal."

People who feel strongly about an issue-including gun rights-also have other issues they care about, and many of those other issues are often more prominent during election season.

Which is why, although polls show Americans to be pro-gun, anti-gunners are able to be elected, and then able to appoint Supreme Court justices, after being "advised and consented" by fellow anti-gunners.

The process by which that changes isn't easy, but it does come around pretty often. It will be the major task of gunowners-all gunowners, of every description-to work diligently, and quickly, to change the balance of power again in the 2010 mid-term elections.
Mid-terms have historically been unkind to sitting presidents, even in tranquil times. But the change starts well before the elections themselves and with individual voters.

Peggy Tartaro

Photo © Copyright 1998 Nancy Floyd, used with permission.