After much arguing and speculating, a deeply divided Supreme Court has ruled that state and local governments are required to observe the 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
The NRA and other gun advocate groups had pushed hard for the court to incorporate the 2nd Amendment through the Privileges and Immunities clause, though the Court quickly shat on that idea since it would have overruled 140 years of prior, perfectly good law and introduced a whole slew of new questions about unalienable rights that no one wants to deal with. So the Court chose instead to use the Due Process clause of the 14th Amendment as the vehicle for incorporation.
Rejoice, gun owners.
Oh, states and municipalities still have the right to regulate that right within reason, so don't go walking down the middle of Main Street shooting your guns into the air just yet.
http://www.chicagoguncase.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/mcdonaldopinion08-1521.pdf
http://www.scotuswiki.com/index.php?title=McDonald_v._City_of_Chicago
The NRA and other gun advocate groups had pushed hard for the court to incorporate the 2nd Amendment through the Privileges and Immunities clause, though the Court quickly shat on that idea since it would have overruled 140 years of prior, perfectly good law and introduced a whole slew of new questions about unalienable rights that no one wants to deal with. So the Court chose instead to use the Due Process clause of the 14th Amendment as the vehicle for incorporation.
Rejoice, gun owners.
Oh, states and municipalities still have the right to regulate that right within reason, so don't go walking down the middle of Main Street shooting your guns into the air just yet.
In Heller, we held that the Second Amendment protects the right to possess a handgun in the home for the purpose of self-defense. Unless considerations of stare decisis counsel otherwise, a provision of the Bill of Rights that protects a right that is fundamental from an American perspective applies equally to the Federal Government and the States. See Duncan, 391 U. S., at 149, and n. 14.
We therefore hold that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment incorporates the Second Amendment right recognized in Heller. The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings.
http://www.chicagoguncase.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/mcdonaldopinion08-1521.pdf
http://www.scotuswiki.com/index.php?title=McDonald_v._City_of_Chicago
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