306 to 18: Congressional Support for an Individual's Right to Own a Gun is Overwhelming

You can read the brief that Cheney and 305 members of Congress signed here. To say that this is an "unusual step" for Cheney is a bit of an understatement because the brief that he signed put him at odds with the DOJ brief submitted a few weeks ago. The DOJ brief stated that the right to own guns is an individual right, but that the level of burden necessary for the government to restrict that right was relatively low, much lower than for the rest of the Bill of Rights. But the brief signed by Cheney argued for a much higher burden on the government (see the "strict judicial scrutiny" discussion on p. 36). For a news article see this:

WASHINGTON — Vice President Cheney took the unusual step Friday of joining with lawmakers in signing a Supreme Court brief that goes further in support of gun rights than the one submitted by the Bush administration. . . .

Cheney joined more than 300 senators and representatives, led by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who want the court to rule that Washington's ban is unconstitutional.

"The vice president believes strongly in Second Amendment rights," Cheney spokeswoman Megan Mitchell said.

Seventeen Democratic lawmakers and District of Columbia Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton urged the court to uphold the ban. . . .

The brief for the 17 members of Congress and the Delegate from DC can be seen here.

One other point should be made here. McCain signed the same brief that Cheney did. Not surprisingly, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama did not.