Next Tuesday, March 18, 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in District of Columbia v. Heller. The case marks the first time a Second Amendment challenge to a firearm law has reached the Supreme Court since 1939!
Last fall, the Court announced its decision to take the case, in which plaintiffs challenge the constitutionality of the District of Columbia’s decades-old gun ban. The District appealed a lower court’s ruling last year affirming that the Second Amendment of the Constitution protects an individual right to keep and bear arms, and that the District’s bans on handguns, on carrying firearms within the home, and on possession of loaded or operable firearms for self-defense violate that right.
In March, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that “[T]he phrase ‘the right of the people,’ when read intratextually and in light of Supreme Court precedent, leads us to conclude that the right in question is individual.” The D.C. Circuit also rejected the claim that the Second Amendment does not apply to the District of Columbia because D.C. is not a state.
To help you more easily access and navigate through all of the detailed information we’ve compiled on this historic, critically important case, we’ve developed a new webpage-- http://www.nraila.org/heller/ --for you to use. On this page, you’ll be able to read related articles we’ve written on District of Columbia v. Heller, and view the dozens of amicus briefs filed in the case. Please be sure to visit http://www.nraila.org/heller/ today!
Transcripts and an audio file of the arguments will be available following the hearing. We will be sure to update you on the case next week.
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