I just got a heads up from my Second Amendment enthusiast friends about this morning's 9th District ruling, and the implications it can have on CCW lawsuits.  At hand is the question of whether or not the Second Amendment applies, via the Fourteenth, to state and local governments.

Since I'm not a lawyer I've been asking around about how exactly this could influence California law, and specifically how it will impact existent negotiations on concealed weapons permits in counties like Orange and San Diego.  The jist of what I've been able to gather is that although the Nordykes lost the lawsuit, this is the best possible outcome for pro-2nd Amendment folks like myself.  Most lawyers point to the following text as the precious gem in the ruling:

We therefore conclude that the right to keep and bear arms is "deeply rooted in this Nation's history and tradition."  Colonial revolutionaries, the Founders, and a host of commentators and lawmakers living during the first one hundred years of the Republic all insisted on the fundamental nature of the right.  It has long been regarded as the "true palladium of liberty."  Colonists relied on it to assert and to win their independence, and the victorious Union sought to prevent a recalcitrant South from abridging it less than a century later.  The crucial role this deeply rooted right has played in our birth and history compels us to recognize that it is indeed fundamental, that it is necessary to the Anglo-American conception of ordered liberty that we have inherited.  We are therefore persuaded that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment incorporates the Second Amendment and applies against the states and local governments. (emphasis added)

I would welcome any comments and opinions from RedCounty readers who are well-versed in litigation to better explain/analyze the consequences of this decision and where we go from here.  The folks over at Calguns.net are going nuts over it. Eugene Volokh has weighed in on his popular blog, The Volokh Conspiracy. David Hardy, from Of Arms & The Law blog, has also opined.