Supreme Court Heard Case on Gun Ownership
S
H6
March 3, 2010
Colleagues,
Yesterday the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case which
would overturn state bans on gun ownership. NCISS submitted an
amicus curiae brief in a 2008 case, District of Columbia v
Heller that found that the “right to keep and bear arms” in the
second amendment applies to individuals. That case, however,
applied only to the Federal government and jurisdictions it
controls, including Washington, DC. The nation’s capital had
effectively banned ownership of handguns. The NCISS brief
supported the individual right to own handguns. A large
percentage of NCISS members are gun owners and lawfully carry
weapons for personal protection and as a condition of
employment.
The case heard yesterday in the Supreme Court, McDonald v.
Chicago, would apply the same rights of gun ownership in states
and localities. Many legal observers expect the court to find
that the right extends to states and localities.
The constitutional issue is whether the second amendment applies
to states. The Bill of Rights (first 10 amendments) originally
applied only to the federal government. After the Civil War, the
14th amendment was adopted to provide that states could not deny
due process to citizens and must extend “privileges and
immunities” to citizens. Since adoption of the amendment, the
court has decided that several of the protections of first 10
amendments applied to the states. They are deciding if the
second amendment is one of them.
The Washington Post ran a good explanation of the constitutional
issues yesterday. The link is below:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/28/AR2010022803985.html
Jimmie Mesis
NCISS Legislative Chairman
NCISS
7501 Sparrows
Point Blvd.
Baltimore, Maryland 21219-1927
(800) 445-8408 . Fax:
(410) 388-9746
Email:
jim@nciss.org
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