The Truth About the Second Amendment

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 weapons, such as machineguns and military-style semiautomatic assault weapons
   
• Safe storage laws to prevent gun accidents.

Click here to learn more about the impact of the Heller case on the gun debate and about the history of the Second Amendment.