U.S. Supreme Court Upholds 2nd Amendment

The United States Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision today that the Second Amendment applies to all Americans, not just those defined in Washington, D.C., and other federal enclaves. Today’s decision, in McDonald v. City of Chicago, effectively ends nearly 30 years of gun bans imposed on Chicago’s citizens.

“This is a landmark decision,” said NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, in a press release. “The Second Amendment—as every citizen's constitutional right—is now a real part of American constitutional law. The NRA will work to ensure this constitutional victory is not transformed into a practical defeat by activist judges defiant city councils or cynical politicians who seek to pervert, reverse or nullify the Supreme Court’s McDonald decision through Byzantine labyrinths of restrictions and regulations that render the Second Amendment inaccessible, unaffordable or otherwise impossible to experience in a practical, reasonable way.”

“This morning’s high court ruling clearly shows that the right of the individual citizen to have a gun is constitutionally protected in every corner of the United States,” said Second Amendment Foundation Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb in a press release. “We are already preparing to challenge other highly-restrictive anti-gun laws across the country. Our objective is to win back our firearms freedoms one lawsuit at a time.”

The ruling marks another huge victory for attorney Alan Gura, who successfully argued the historic Heller case, which ended Washington D.C.’s gun ban, in 2008. The McDonald ruling sets legal precedent that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms applies to state and local governments, as well as the federal government. The ruling further establishes that a constitutionally-protected civil right cannot be arbitrarily regulated as though it were a privilege.

Posted on 6/28/2010