District of Columbia v. Heller
From Judgepedia
On November 20, 2007, the United States Supreme Court decided to hear the case of District of Columbia v. Heller ; it will be the first time the court has weighed in on the language and meaning of the 2nd Amendment in nearly 70 years. The court's eventual decision will decide whether the Constitution grants an individual the right to keep and bear arms, or whether that right is reserved for state-sponsored militia. Oral arguments will begin on March 18, 2008.[1]
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Impetus
Parker v. District of Columbia, [(case citation) 478 F.3d 370] (D.C. Cir. 2007), cert. granted sub nom. District of Columbia v. Heller, 128 S.Ct. 645 (U.S. Nov. 20, 2007) (No. 07-290), is a case in which the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit became the first federal appeals court in the United States to strike down a firearm ban for reasons based on the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and the second to interpret the Second Amendment explicitly as protecting an individual right to firearms for private use. The first federal case that interpreted the Amendment as providing protection of an individual right was United States v. Emerson (5th Cir. 2001).[2]
The Federal Court's decision in Parker, which was won by the plaintiff Dick Anthony Heller, a security guard advocating his right to keep a loaded and assembled hand-gun in his D.C. residence, broke with the vast majority of federal courts to have previously examined the issue. The court, in this case, ruled that the Second Amendment applied to individuals, as opposed to state militia; it essentially overturned D.C.'s 31-year-old ban on the private ownership of handguns, and deemed it unconstitutional.[3]
Oral Arguments: Audio
Listen to the Supreme Court Oral Arguments (3/18/2008)Pending
Oral Arguments: Transcripts
Oral Arguments Transcript (3/18/2008)
Decision
A decision will probably be reached some time during June, 2008.
References
The D.C. hand-gun ban, enacted in 1976, is generally regarded as the strictest arms-ban in the country. It both bars the private possession of hand-guns and requires any private individual who owns a shotgun or rifle to keep them disassembled or under a trigger lock.
