Note: As a Facebook friend said, the Constitution extends to us the right to bear arms. The Supreme Court clarified the issue.
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In 1976, the Council of the District of Columbia passed gun control laws in a hugely unsuccessful attempt to curb the violent crime rate in the city.
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 and refused to rehear the case. The district appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the court ruled 5-4 last year that DC’s ban on handguns is unconstitutional.
The Second Amendment grants individuals the right to own guns, the court contended. The ruling applied to the federal government.
Today, the court extended (5-4, which means four justices don’t believe the Second Amendment gives individuals the right to bear arms) federally protected Second Amendment rights to all states.
Addendum: I heard the majority opinion mentions gun control’s racist roots. Yes, indeed: the Black Codes.
Download the 214-page opinion (PDF).
