Reply #14: A state will often be overruled by both the courts and Congress [View All]

if state law or regulation infringes on a constitutionally protected right. That happens all the time with state-level abortion restrictions (there are Congressional laws protecting clinics in addition to the court decisions), Federal statutes protecting speech/press, etc. Much of the history of the civil rights movement involved not only the courts, but Congress (e.g., the Civil Rights Act) overruling unconstitutional/illegal state laws aimed at harassing people of color. Even in the realm of gun laws, the 1986 McClure-Volkmer Firearms Owner Protection Act restricted states from banning the lawful transport of firearms through the state, to take just one example of Congress overruling state gun law.

A state has no more power to infringe on constitutionally-protected rights than D.C. does, and vice versa. *NO* state had laws resembling D.C.'s de facto ban on all handguns and most rifles, so it is really not a fair comparison, IMO.