ABC's Greenburg Gives 2nd Amendment Fair Shot

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Could this photo be a first? It shows a card-carrying member of the MSM shooting a handgun. That's Jan Crawford Greenburg, an ABC News legal correspondent. The clip, pun intended, of Greenburg on the firing range was part of a segment she narrated on today's Good Morning America on a case to be argued before the Supreme Court today. At issue is the District of Columbia's law banning handguns. The case comes before the Supreme Court after the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. invalidated the law. The decision could be a landmark, potentially the first time the Supreme Court rules squarely on the issue of whether the Second Amendment establishes an individual right to bear arms.

The segment was surprisingly respectful of the right to bear arms. Beyond Greenburg's personal marksmanship demonstration, the segment began with a sympathetic depiction of the plight of Shelly Parker, the DC resident who started the case by suing the city over its gun ban.

View video here.

JAN CRAWFORD GREENBURG: When a man tried to break into her house one night, Shelly Parker, a single woman living alone felt defenseless.

SHELLY PARKER: I had the alarm system, had the dog, and I was like, OK, my next step is I need some sort of firearm.

GREENBURG: Parker lives in Washington, DC, one of the nation's most violent cities, with the country's toughest gun laws. It bans handguns, and requires shotguns be kept locked and unloaded. Parker says that puts her in danger. She is suing the city.

PARKER: The criminals have guns. If you're a law-abiding citizen, the law in DC says you do not have a gun.

GREENBURG: The Supreme Court today will hear Parker's case and decide one of the great unresolved constitutional questions: does the Second Amendment protect an individual's right to keep and bear arms or does it only protect a state's right to have a well-regulated militia?

Cut to Greenburg squeezing off two shots from what looked like a revolver [that I'm sure some astute NB readers will be able to identify as to make, model and caliber]. Gun still in hand and protective glasses on, she continued.

GREENBURG: If the court strikes down the law, officials predict thousands of people in the nations's capital will buy handguns. That worries Washingtons' mayor.

ADRIAN FENTY [DC Mayor]: There are enough handguns on our streets. One can only imagine what would happen if you put even more guns in the streets of the city.

GREENBURG: Now to show you what kind of case this is, how big it is, there are hundreds of people waiting in line inside the courtroom, they've been camping out for two days. Now the stakes are huge. If the court upholds DC's gun ban, officials think cities across the country are going to try to pass similar tough new gun laws of their own.

To answer Mayor Fenty's question as to "what would happen" if the law is overturned, the answer is that law-abiding citizens would have a chance to defend themselves against the criminals who, law enforcement aside, are the only people bearing guns on DC streets.

But back to Jan Crawford. Who would have imagined? An MSM segment in no way hostile to the right to keep and bear arms, with even a not-so-subtle suggestion from the reporter that the right is one she personally values. Good on Greenburg.

Note: Crawford Greenburg is the author of Supreme Conflict, an inside look at the workings of the high court that the Wall Street Journal has described as a "tour de force."