The Supreme Court of the United States, which is apparently an illegitimate entity since it was taken over by Donald Trump, is going to hear a Second Amendment case arising from the state of New York. This is interesting to the Czar because, as far as he can remember, every time the Court hears a Second Amendment case, the result is a landmark decision.

At issue is whether the City of New York can restrict its citizens from transporting firearms outside of a few, select locations such as gun ranges or hunting spots. This, as intended, limits how and where citizens of the city can carry firearms. That this is even in question is a surprise to the Czar: the law in unfair and benefits no law-abiding citizen, instead placing unnecessary and unwarranted restrictions. Frankly, this isn’t even a typical infringement issue: it’s a bizarre law that serves no practical purpose beyond hassling people. Were the City to replace “firearms” with “toasters,” the law would still be silly.

As you expect, lots of the usual people are freaking out about this. In some respects, they should: in the last couple of decades, each time a municipality attempts to place a surprise restriction on firearm owners, the Supreme Court winds up striking down a few other existing restrictions as well. In other respects, gun-control proponents should not be surprised: the Supreme Court has taken a dim view of gun control even when dominated by liberal justices. Our two most-recent justices were not present on the Court when the last few Second Amendment cases gave gun owners very welcome surprises.

Already, congressional Democrats and media sources are attacking the legitimacy of the Court, pointing fingers at the NRA for somehow controlling the Court’s decisions over the last twenty years. In the Czar’s view, this trend of pro-gun-rights decisions has nothing to do with the NRA, but in the Supreme Court’s growing intolerance of government overreach. Every decision on the Second Amendment seems to revolve around passage of a law that’s designed to extend a middle finger to law-abiding citizens, exploiting a word or phrase in the Court’s previous decisions to underpin a new restriction. This sort of stuff is exactly how the Court fights back against the contempt people show it.

The final decision should reach us in May, 2020, but the Czar already has a pretty strong sense of what the decision is going to be. What he doesn’t know is what else the Court will do to punish New York City for wasting its time.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.