The US Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a 5-4 decision that a Washington, D.C. ban of personal firearms possession is unconstitutional. In a majority opinion written by Antonin Scalia, the court found that “[t]he 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 the home.”
Justice John Paul Stevens delivered a dissenting opinion that acknowledged an individual right protected by the Second Amendment, but disagreed about the “scope” of that amendment, writing, “[w]hether it also protects the right to possess and use guns for nonmilitary purposes like hunting and personal self-defense is the question presented by this case.”
The case, District of Columbia v. Heller, stemmed from a lawsuit brought by police officer Dick Heller against the Washington, D.C. city government after it refused to issue a permit for him to keep a handgun in his home for personal protection. The District of Columbia had based this refusal on the Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975.
The Supreme Court decision upheld a 2007 decision by the D.C. federal appellate court to void the 1975 law on constitutional grounds.
