Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments for a case dealing with the Second Amendment right of individual citizens to keep and bear arms. The name of the case is D.C. v. Heller. This is the first significant case the United States Supreme Court has heard dealing with gun rights since 1939.

Two members of the Vision Forum staff, Bob Renaud and Nathaniel Darnell, traveled to Washington, D.C. to witness this historic event. Both of these men are students with Oak Brook College of Law, and they were joined by five other Oak Brook students and alumni. Several other law students turned out for the event, including students from Harvard Law, George Mason, and George Washington Law School, but Oak Brook had the highest contingency of law students representing their school—and all of them were former homeschoolers. (See the AP Story here.)

Below is Bob Renaud and Nathaniel Darnell’s on-the-scene account of the day’s events.

The Report

We arrived at 1:00 p.m. on Monday afternoon. By that time there were already 20 people in line ahead of us, seven of which had already been camped out since the night before. By 11:00 p.m. on Monday, the line would grow to over 100 people. They came from all corners of the country, and they included a variety of characters. Two fervent gun supporters from Phoenix entertained the crowd by singing a number of pro-gun songs they had written in a barbershop-style a cappella duet. Another older gentleman paced up and down the crowd trying to provoke a debate with any anti-gun proponents, but couldn’t find anyone.

The news media, which turned out with their microphones, cameras, and lights met the same result. Of all the people we met waiting in line, only one person supported the D.C. law against gun ownership.

One female reporter from NPR stuck a microphone in Bob Renauds’s face and asked why he was here.

“I believe the Second Amendment is an individual right, not a corporate right,” Bob said matter-of-factly.

“Well, don’t you realize that Washington, D.C. has the highest crime rate in the country? So don’t you think they should have the gun ban?” the reporter retorted.

Bob smiled. “Well, if you are going to use that evidentiary argument, then do you realize that in every state that has passed concealed carry laws, the crime rate has dropped in each of those states? So I believe that the Supreme Court should affirm the appellant decision overturning the gun ban, and thus allow law-abiding citizens to carry concealed weapons.”

After a long, seething pause, the reporter responded, “Well, okay, I guess that’s fair enough. Is there anybody here who supports the D.C. law?” She looked around, but no one in line responded.

Another reporter from the Washington Post asked us why we were here. “Because we believe in the Second Amendment right of individual citizens to keep and bear arms,” we replied. The reporters scribbled some of our comments down on her pad as she asked some more questions.

“The phrase ‘the people’ in the Constitution is never used to refer to an entity of the civil government,” Nathaniel Darnell said to the reporter. “In each instance where it appears, it is used to refer to individual citizens. In fact, the Tenth Amendment directly distinguishes between the government and the people when it says that the powers not given to the federal government are reserved to the states or to the people, respectively.”

The reporter looked quizzical.

“Also, the phrase ‘the militia’ is directly distinguished from the military of the government in the Fifth Amendment, when it is listed separately from the armed land forces and the navy,” Nathaniel added.

“Uh-huh,” the reporter muttered, lowering her pen. “Does anyone here support the gun ban?”

You could have heard a cricket chirp.

The Washington Post later mentioned the seven Oak Brook students in an article they posted early this morning (See the story here). TV news reporters also swarmed around us with their bright lights shining in our faces. Friends called us to say they had seen us on some TV news networks.

It was a clear sunny day in Washington, D.C. in the 50-degree range, but as the sun descended, the temperature would drop into the low 40s. Thankfully, the air was still, almost as if in quiet anticipation.

Around 7:00 p.m. someone organized a pizza order for everyone in the line. Many contributed to the order and within half-an-hour an SUV pulled up and delivered dozens of pizzas to the line.

The cordiality of the group was impressive. We interacted from students from other law schools, and enjoyed friendly discussion on the case, and their law-school experiences.

By midnight, people in the line were breaking out sleeping bags and blankets, snuggling up against the curbside by the lawn.

At 7:20 a.m., we were told to file in front of the building and issued tickets.

More to follow . . .

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