THE NINTH CIRCUIT, in an opinion by Stephen Reinhardt, says there’s no Second Amendment right to arms. At least, I think so — the opinion is 69 pages long and I’ve only skimmed the beginning so far.

Footnote 1 is to an article by Michael Bellesiles, though, which doesn’t exactly enhance its credibility.

UPDATE: Clayton Cramer has more. And now that I’ve skimmed the whole thing, it seems that the 9th Circuit believes there’s a right of the states to have — in the words of a Warren Burger passage from Parade magazine that the opinion quotes — “state armies.” If this is taken seriously, states can nullify federal gun control laws simply by declaring that their adult citizenry constitutes “the militia” and is to have machine guns. (You can read an article that Don Kates and I wrote in the William & Mary Law Review on this very subject here.)

I don’t think it’s meant to be taken seriously, though. The “states’ right” argument is usually employed by gun control supporters like a chain of garlic against a vampire — pulled out at need, but then hastily tossed back in the cellar afterward, lest its odor offend.

To be fair, though, I’ve just skimmed the opinion. It’s possible that there’s a layer of sophistication that I’ve missed.