Supreme Court Upholds Right to Own Guns

For the first time since the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued a ruling on gun rights, voting 5-4 that Americans have a right to own guns for personal self-defense in their homes. The ruling struck down the District of Columbia's ban on the ownership of handguns passed in 1976 by the city council.

The question decided by the court was if the Second Amendment right to bear arms was limited to members of a militia or extended to private individuals. The court's landmark decision ruled that all citizens do have that right.

In writing the majority opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia pointed to a "historical narrative" before and after the adoption of the Second Amendment which supports an individual right to bear arms.

Scalia wrote that the Constitution does not allow "the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home."

Prohibitions, Licensing Still in Place

Scalia also said nothing in the ruling should "cast doubt on long-standing prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons or the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings."

Justice John Paul Stevens wrote a dissent in which he said the majority of the court "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."

Stevens wrote such evidence "is nowhere to be found."

The ruling also struck down the District's requirement that firearms have trigger locks or kept disassembled. However, the ruling left intact the licensing of guns.

The ruling is expected to prompt lawsuits in several states where laws have been passed restricting the ownership of firearms.

See Also:
Supreme Court Says Americans Have Right to Guns
Supreme Court Backs Individual Gun Rights

More Information:

• National Instant Criminal Background Check System
  
• Gun Laws by State
  
• Weapons and Gun Control Issues

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