District of Columbia v. Heller: U.S. Supreme Court Upholds 2nd Amendment Right to Bear Arms
On June 26, 2008 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the District of Columbia's total ban on handguns violates the Second Amendment and its protection of an individual's right to possess firearms.
D.C. law bans handgun possession by making it illegal to carry an unregistered firearm and prohibits registration of handguns. It also states that no person may carry an unlicensed handgun, but police are allowed to issue 1-year licenses. Residents who lawfully own firearms must keep them unloaded and disassembled, or bound by trigger lock or similar device.
The case was brought by Heller, a local policeman who was denied a license to keep his handgun at home. He hoped to enjoin the city from continuing its bar on handgun registration which prohibits carrying an unlicensed firearm in the home and also from its trigger lock requirement prohibiting the use of functional firearms in the home.
The ink on the opinion was not dry before Second Amendment groups filed suit in the federal court in Chicago challenging the city's handgun ban. Lawsuit challenges to the local ordinances of other city gun bans are planned or filed for Evanston, Oak Park, Wilmette and others.
