The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in District of Columbia v. Heller, a case the Court has stated is “limited to the following question: Whether Washington, D.C.’s bans [on handguns, on having guns in operable condition in the home and on carrying guns within the home] violate the Second Amendment rights of individuals who are not affiliated with any state-regulated militia, but who wish to keep handguns and other firearms for private use in their homes.”
The case came before the Supreme Court on appeal by the District of Columbia, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia declared the city’s gun bans unconstitutional.
The Court of Appeals decision–consistent with the views of the Framers of the Bill of Rights, respected legal commentators of the 19th century, the Supreme Court’s ruling in U.S. v. Cruikshank (1876), numerous court decisions of the 19th century, the Supreme Court’s ruling in U.S. v. Miller (1939), the position of the U.S. Department of Justice, and the vast majority of Second Amendment scholars today-concluded that “the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. That right existed prior to the formation of the new government under the Constitution and was premised on the private use of arms for activities such as hunting and self-defense, the latter being understood as resistance to either private lawlessness or the depredations of a tyrannical government (or a threat from abroad).”