THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 27, 1995 TAG: 9504270358
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
The Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down a federal law banning gun possession within 1,000 feet of schools, saying the states - not Congress - have the authority to enact such criminal laws.
The 5-4 decision throwing out the 1990 Gun-Free School Zones Act stood in sharp contrast to a longstanding court trend of deference to congressional power to regulate interstate commerce.
Congress stole power reserved to the states when it enacted the law, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote as the court refused to reinstate a former Texas high school student's conviction for taking a gun to school.
The school gun law ``is a criminal statute that by its terms has nothing to do with `commerce' or any sort of economic enterprise, however broadly one might define those terms,'' Rehnquist wrote.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy noted in a concurring opinion that most states already outlaw gun possession on or near school grounds.
But Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote in dissent that the ruling creates a legal uncertainty that ``will restrict Congress' ability to enact criminal laws aimed at criminal behavior that . . . seriously threatens the economic, as well as social, well-being of Americans.''
Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., who sponsored the school gun law, said, ``I'm astonished that the Supreme Court has said that Congress cannot protect our children from guns.'' He said the ruling ``ignores children's safety for the sake of legal nitpicking.''
But Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who heads the Judiciary Committee, supported the ruling. ``No one wants guns in or around schools, but state and local legislators can and do amply protect against this danger,'' he said, adding that the court made clear ``there are real limits to Congress' power under the Commerce Clause.''
Sixty-five students and six school employees were shot and killed at U.S. schools during the five years before the law was enacted, according to the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence.
The court rejected the Clinton administration's argument that gun possession near schools may result in violent crime, which in turn can harm the national economy.
Under that reasoning, Rehnquist wrote, ``Congress could regulate any activity that it found was related to the economic productivity of individual citizens: family law . . . for example.''
The government had asked the court to reinstate Alfonso Lopez Jr.'s conviction for taking a handgun and five bullets to school in San Antonio in 1992. He said he received $40 to deliver the gun to someone else to use in what Lopez described as a ``gang war.''
In ruling that Lopez's conviction could not stand, the high court said he ``was a local student at a local school; there is no indication that he had recently moved in interstate commerce.''
Joining Rehnquist's opinion along with Kennedy were Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. Dissenting along with Breyer were Justices John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
In other action Wednesday, the court:
Ruled unanimously in a New York case that states can regulate hospital costs by charging different rates based on a patient's health care coverage.
Heard arguments on whether Ohio could deny a Ku Klux Klan request to put a cross alongside a menorah and Christmas tree on the Statehouse square in Columbus.
Heard arguments on whether a former federal prison inmate who said he once sold marijuana to Dan Quayle was wrongly disciplined when he tried to publicize his claim shortly before the 1988 presidential election.
KEYWORDS: U.S. SUPREME COURT RULING GUNS SCHOOLS by CNB