Woo-hoo! Ding, dong, the ban-witch is dead!
I’m happy to announce that today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the District of Columbia’s ban on handguns is unconstitutional. (Source) Individuals have a right to bear arms, so says the court, and this DC resident is about to start bearing, baby! 
Background
In 1976, the Council of the District of Columbia passed gun control laws in a misguided and fruitless attempt to curb the violent crime rate. Residents who owned handguns before 1976 could keep them, but only in the home. While the laws banned handgun ownership, residents were permitted to own and keep registered rifles and shotguns inside the home – unloaded and disassembled or trigger-locked.
A group of DC residents file suit challenging the District’s ban on handguns. The U.S. District Court ruled against the group, but the D.C. Circuit reversed the ruling. A three-judge panel declared DC’s ban on handguns unconstitutional last March and refused to rehear the case. The district appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Foreground
This morning, the Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment grants individuals the right to own guns. The court held (emphases added):
“The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.
…
“The handgun ban and the trigger-lock requirement (as applied to self-defense) violate the Second Amendment. The District’s total ban on handgun possession in the home amounts to a prohibition on an entire class of ‘arms’ that Americans overwhelmingly choose for the lawful purpose of self-defense. Under any of the standards of scrutiny the Court has applied to enumerated constitutional rights, this prohibition—in the place where the importance of the lawful defense of self, family, and property is most acute—would fail constitutional muster. Similarly, the requirement that any lawful firearm in the home be disassembled or bound by a trigger lock makes it impossible for citizens to use arms for the core lawful purpose of self-defense and is hence unconstitutional.”
Download the 157-page opinion (PDF). There is nowhere else for the District to appeal. Residents now need to push for concealed carry laws. Sign me up! (Commenter Robbie says residents need to push for concealed carry and open carry laws. Agreed!)
More about the decision (and Obama’s opinion of the former gun ban) at Michelle Malkin’s. McCain’s reaction at Hot Air.
Last year I asked readers for gun recommendations. Some people also gave me firing range recommendations. Going shopping. Catch you later!
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