Following in the steps of the United States Supreme Court’s Heller decision reaffirming the individual nature of the Second Amendment, there was a major victory for gun rights in the 9th Circuit Court, which covers California, Oregon, Hawaii, Washington, Arizona and other western states.

In this case, the 9th Circuit Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment is indeed (to the surprise of many familiar with the 9th circuit’s usual stance) a fundamental right that is needed not just for self-protection, but for the “protection against both external threat and internal tyranny”.  More importantly, by making this decision, the court has incorporated the 2nd as an essential right to the states it covers, much as the First and Fourth Amendments in the Bill of Rights already are.

While some of these states already enjoy their own state version of the Second Amendment, this is a huge step for states like California and Hawaii.  In California for instance, the “may issue” CCW policy could very well be challenged to put it in line with 39 other states’ policy of “shall issue” CCW issuance.  There will also surely be challenges to the state’s banning of assault weapons, the safe handgun roster, magazine limits, and other legislation that has been passed in the state throughout the years.

It’s an interesting time to be following the gun rights struggle, no matter which side of the equation you may happen to fall on.