Last week, it was announced that the Supreme Court would hear arguments on the constitutionality of Washington. D.C.'s handgun ban, and decide in the process whether the right to keep and bear arms refers to militias or individuals.

The case was brought before the Court because Dick Anthony Heller, an armed security guard (ironically, for the D.C. court system), was denied permission to keep his handgun at home. Under the provisions of D.C.'s law, you can't have a handgun, period, and all long guns must be kept either disassembled or have a trigger lock on them. Thus Mister Heller is a staunch defender of public safety if he carries his handgun on the job but a felon if he takes it home.

It's easy to see this case as a sort of Armageddon for the Second Amendment. If the Supreme Court decides that the Second Amendment refers to an individual's rights it will be a huge help, but Sarah Brady and friends will not close up shop in despair. If the ruling is for militias, it will present problems for us, but probably not change a great deal all by itself.
      
I've seen some speculation that this development will cause the presidential candidates of both parties to define their positions on gun control. Satan and all his legions cannot bring this about. Can you imagine Hillary Clinton saying something clear and unambiguous about anything, much less gun control?
    
Gun control has about the same bearing on public safety as the TSA's confiscating family-sized tubes of toothpaste has on airline safety; it is the illusion rather than the real thing. Washington, D.C.'s police has been, for many years, one of the lamer departments in our major cities, and it might be helpful to remember this:

On April 30, 2001, a young woman named Chandra Levy went missing in Washington, D.C. A police search of Rock Creek Park failed to locate her remains, which were discovered on May 22, 2002 by a man looking for turtles. The police explained that they had not searched that part of the park because it was too remote. No suspect was ever named. Levy's is now considered a cold case. The killer is still at large.