Because of his circumspect views on foreign policy, Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.) isn't every conservative's cup of Tea Party tea as a presidential candidate. Whether this assumes a not entirely fair or accurate take on Senator Paul's foreign-policy views is a debate for another time; with his introduction of the Defend Our Capital Act of 2015, the gentleman from Kentucky reminds us of why he is an invaluable senator, whatever becomes of his presidential aspirations. The Defend Our Capital Act seeks to put into law the radical notion that Americans' federal civil rights, as understood by the Supreme Court, apply in the federal District of Columbia, including their right to keep and bear arms.

The Supreme Court has unequivocally recognized an individual right to keep and bear arms in Heller (a right incorporated against the states under the Fourteenth Amendment in the later McDonald decision), but the District of Columbia has, it its mulishness, persisted in preventing Americans there from exercising their rights.