Constitutional Law

U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Gun Ban

The U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 ruling today invalidated the nation’s strictest gun law. In D.C. v. Heller (opinion), the high court said the District of Columbia’s 32-year-old ban on handguns violated the Second Amendment, which holds that “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority, said the Second Amendment does not permit “the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home.”

Justice John Paul Stevens wrote a dissent, which was joined by Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter. Stevens said the majority “would have us believe that over 200 years ago, the Framers made a choice to limit the tools available to elected officials wishing to regulate civilian uses of weapons.”

ACS Resources

• Blogpost commentary: Supreme Court Should Have Deferred to D.C. Legislature (June 2008)
  
• Blogpost review: First Thoughts on Heller (June 2008)
• Blogpost preview: The Second Amendment: The Middle Path Leads Over a Cliff (June 2008)
• Panel discussion: The Smoking Gun: Interpreting the Second Amendment (June 2008)
• Blog debate: A Week of Second Amendment Arguments: Professors Winkler and Tushhnet
• Panel discussion: The Second Amendment in the Supreme Court (March 2008)
• Blogpost preview: Praying for a Second Shot on the Second Amendment (March 2008)

Reactions

• The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
• District of Columbia
• National Rifle Association

Updated: 6/26/2008 at 4:20 PM

Full post as published by ACS Blog on June 26, 2008 (boomark / email).