The U.S. Supreme Court resolved the long debate over Americans’ rights to own guns today with a 5-4 decision. It struck down a 32 year old ban on handguns in the District of Columbia and most important, said Americans have the right to own guns independent to service in a state militia.

Get the decision here.

Now I hope we can move on to the kind of gun debates that matter to me. Are big calibers better than smaller faster rounds for hunting big game?

Should I buy a used Browning T bolt .22 for fun or a Kimber? Who was the better gun expert Salmon’s cowboy Elmer Keith or Lewiston’s fedora-wearing Jack O’Connor? Keith liked big guns and O'Connor went for the flat-shooting smaller rounds.

I opted for O’Connor as a kid and even today because I hunt with a .270. But you have to like the approach of Keith who replied when asked if a caliber was too large, “you mean it will kill too dead?”

Guns for me have always been about hunting, target practice and culture. The only time I had an intruder in my house I couldn’t find my glasses nor my gun in time to have made a difference.

I have never seen the debate as “I will need to have a gun to protect democracy.” By the time the United States gets to a place in the modern world where we need to own guns to protect our rights I have always thought it would be too late.

But now we can quit arguing whether we have a right to bear arms. Now we will argue how that right is balanced against our other rights.