It's always interesting to see lawyers, judges and gun control advocates lobby for restrictions on gun ownership—a fundamental constitutional right—that they wouldn't tolerate for a moment were it applied to speech.

I was pointed (via Twitter) to this article in the Hartford Courant from last week on a hearing before the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals on the Connecticut ban on AR-15-style rifles and "large" (read: "standard") size magazines. The judge hearing the case, Christopher Droney, seems to have little respect or command of the second amendment.

U.S. Circuit Judge Christopher Droney on Tuesday seemed to acknowledge a potential government interest in banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines when he cited statistics that show "over 50 percent of recent mass shootings used a combination of the two."

...

For the state to ban the guns and magazines, "they have to have substantial evidence" that in doing so, they would prevent criminals from having access to them, Thompson argued. That's not the case, he said, because millions are produced nationwide and such bans do not exist in other states.

"You're saying don't bother to outlaw them because there are so many around that the criminals will have access to them, so let law-abiding citizens have access to them, too?" Judge Droney asked in response. "Is that what you're saying?"

Judges are, of course, used to deference and respect (deserved or not) from those appearing before him. However, if I'm a lawyer (and I'm not) and I'm presented with this question, my retort would be something along the lines of:

You're saying that a minuscule percentage of these guns will be used by criminals, so millions of law-abiding citizens can't have them either?

Cars are used every day to aid thieves and robbers in fleeing from the scenes of their crimes. So, every car should be equipped with a governor to prevent it from travelling faster than average jogging speed?

Unless the American people elect another liberal president in 2016, then there's a high likelihood that the 2nd Amendment will be ruled by judges to actually mean what it says.

That day can't come too soon.