Supreme Court shoots down D.C. gun ban

The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down Washington D.C.’s ban on handguns, ruling the restrictions infringe on the Second Amendment.

The 5-4 decision handed down Thursday is the Supreme Court’s first major Second Amendment ruling in nearly 70 years. It declared unconstitutional a D.C. law on the books for more than 30 years.

{mosads}Justice Antonin Scalia delivered the opinion, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Anthony Kennedy agreeing.  

Justices David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Stephen Breyer and John Paul Stevens dissented.

The District since 1976 has restricted handgun ownership to former or current law enforcement officers who registered their guns before 1977. The law permits shotguns and hunting rifles in homes but requires them to be kept unloaded and either disassembled or fitted with a trigger lock.

Scalia’s opinion said these restrictions made it impossible for D.C. residents to use guns for self-defense and were a violation of the Second Amendment.
 
“The requirement that any lawful firearm in the home be disassembled or bound by a trigger lock makes it impossible for citizens to use arms for the core lawful purpose of self-defense and is hence unconstitutional,” Scalia wrote  in the 64-page majority opinion.

Scalia’s opinion said the Second Amendment protects individual gun owners and is not limited to militias. Supporters of the D.C. law had argued the right to bear arms was only meant for militias.

“The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self- defense within a home,” Scalia wrote.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled D.C.’s gun ban unconstitutional last year. Dissatisfied with the ruling, lawyers for the District appealed the decision, and in November the Supreme Court agreed to consider the case. Arguments were heard in March.

Dozens of lawmakers in almost every Congress have put forward amendments and bills to revoke the D.C. gun ban, all of which have failed.

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and other supporters of the ban have argued that restricting gun ownership is a necessary tactic to battle gun violence in the city. 

This story was updated at 11:22 a.m.