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Legal Action Project Second Amendment
U.S. Supreme Court Reaffirms Gun Regulations
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In its decision in McDonald v. City of Chicago, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed its language in District of Columbia v. Heller that the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. 

 

The Court ruled that the individual right to possess guns in the home for self-defense does not prevent elected representatives from enacting common-sense gun laws to protect communities from gun violence.

 

The Court rejected the gun lobby's "any gun, for anybody, anywhere" agenda.  It again recognized that the Second Amendment allows for reasonable restrictions on firearms, including who can have them and under what conditions, where they can be taken, and what types of firearms are permissible.

 

The Brady Center, joined by several national law enforcement groups, had filed a friend of the court brief urging the Court to interpret the Second Amendment to allow for “reasonable” gun laws.

» Click here to read our statement on the decision
» Click here to watch Brady President Paul Helmke on the Newshour debating the NRA's Wayne LaPierre

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The U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed in McDonald v. City of Chicago its language that the Second Amendment right is not unlimited.

 
The Second Amendment and Common Sense Gun Laws

On June 26, 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-4 opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller. Justice Scalia, writing for the majority, held that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess handguns for use in self-defense in a person's home. However, he stressed that this right is not unlimited.

Although the Court split 5-4 on the whether the right granted by the Second Amendment is tied to militia service, all nine Justices agreed that a wide variety of gun laws are presumptively lawful. The Court listed many types of laws that would not be barred by the Second Amendment and stated that this list does not purport to be exhaustive.

  • Bans on gun possession by dangerous persons such as felons and the mentally ill
  • Laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings
  • Laws imposing conditions and qualifications on gun sales, which could include background checks, licensing, and limits on bulk sales of handguns
  • Prohibitions on carrying concealed weapons
  • Prohibitions on dangerous and unusual weapons, such as machineguns and military-style semiautomatic assault weapons
  • Safe storage laws to prevent gun accidents.

» Click here to learn about the impact of the Heller case
» Click here to read critiques of the Heller ruling
» Click here for analysis of Heller, McDonald, and the current state of gun policy and law


Unintended Consequences

Brady Center Report: Unintended Consequences: What the Supreme Court's Second Amendment Decision in D.C. v. Heller Means for the Future of Gun Laws