The constitutionality of gun control laws have been clarified by the Supreme Court. To a point, the ban on ownership of handguns has been struck down. In 2008, the Supreme Court struck down a law banning handguns in Washington D.C. – and McDonald v. Chicago clarifies that ruling.
The Supreme Court gun decision
Within the last three years, the Supreme Court has rendered two decisions on the constitutionality of gun bans. Handguns cannot be restricted on ownership, as outlined by the decision rendered in McDonald v. Chicago. In 2008, the SCOTUS ruled that federal districts could not ban handgun ownership. This gun ruling clarified that the same standard applies to cities and states. The 5-4 majority ruling stated that that “self-defense is a basic right… individual self-defense is ‘the central component’ of the Second Amendment.”
Some gun legislation can be allowed
Gun-limiting legislation is not entirely unconstitutional, though – the ruling does leave open a possibility of future legislation. The original 2008 ruling was repeated when the majority decision stated “recognized the right to keep and bear arms is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for no matter what purpose.” In other words, cities, states and also the federal government does nevertheless have the right to legislate and limit guns. The spot where the right to own guns supersedes the right of government to limit guns has nevertheless not been made clear.
The other things the court ruled on today
Today, the court handed down decisions far beyond just the Second Amendment. The Court declared the Public Company Accounting Board, as it was created, is unconstitutional. This is a board that was designed in 2002 to audit public companies, in response to the failure of Enron and WorldCon. If the SEC gets more control over the board, though, it can be constitutional. The court also rendered decisions in Bilski v. Kappos, which denied a patent for a strategy in hedging financial risk.
