MIKE DAVIS: The American gun-free zone you didn't know

American Samoa is as American as it gets. It's a U.S. territory, its people are U.S. nationals, and yet the High Court just decided the Second Amendment simply doesn't apply there. That means an entire class of Americans can be disarmed by a territorial government with no constitutional pushback. That's not a legal gray area. It's a two-tiered right.

The ruling basically says the right to keep and bear arms stops at the water's edge. If you live in Honolulu, you're covered. Fly two hours to Pago Pago, and you're at the mercy of a gun ban. That's a strange way to run a republic. We shouldn't be surprised, though. Gun control advocates love to test the limits in places with little political power. That's how rights get nibbled away one island at a time.

Mike Davis wants President Trump to step in, and he's right to push. A president can't overturn a court ruling, but he can direct the Justice Department to put the full weight of the federal government behind these Americans. There are levers. There's pressure. There's the bully pulpit. Trump needs to make clear that American citizenship isn't a buffet line of rights. Either you're a constitutional American or you're not.

The rest of the country should be paying attention. If the Second Amendment can be switched off in American Samoa, it can be switched off anywhere. This is the kind of case the Supreme Court ought to take. And if they won't, the political branches need to act. We're tired of seeing Americans treated as second-class for no reason other than geography.

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