District of Columbia v. Heller
District of Columbia v. Heller is a landmark Supreme Court case that examined the interpretation of the Second Amendment concerning individual gun ownership rights. The case originated in 2003 when six Washington, D.C. residents, including security officer Dick Anthony Heller, filed a lawsuit against the city's stringent gun laws, which had been enacted in 1976. These laws prohibited the registration of handguns, mandated licenses for other firearms, and required that firearms be kept unloaded and locked. The initial court ruling dismissed the case, asserting that the Second Amendment applied only to organized militias. However, upon appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decided that the Second Amendment indeed protects an individual's right to possess firearms for self-defense.
This ruling was further escalated to the Supreme Court, which, on June 26, 2008, upheld the appeals court's decision, declaring that the District of Columbia's gun laws were unconstitutional. The outcome of District of Columbia v. Heller was significant; it marked the first major interpretation of the Second Amendment by the Supreme Court in nearly 70 years and solidified the legal foundation for individual gun ownership rights in the United States. The case remains a pivotal reference in discussions about gun rights and regulations, reflecting diverse perspectives on the balance between individual freedoms and public safety.
District of Columbia v. Heller
The Case: US Supreme Court ruling upholding the Second Amendment right of individuals to possess firearms in their homes in the District of Columbia
Date: Decided on June 26, 2008
A suit filed against the District of Columbia in 2003, challenging the meaning of the Second Amendment in relation to an individual’s right to bear arms, eventually made its way to the US Supreme Court. In District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court ruled that the District of Columbia’s gun ordinances were unconstitutional.
In 2003, six residents of Washington, DC, including federal security officer Dick Anthony Heller, challenged the District of Columbia’s gun laws, which were enacted in 1976. The ordinances banned the registration of handguns, required licenses for all other firearms, and required that guns be kept “unloaded and disassembled, or bound by a trigger lock.” The lawsuit stated that these laws violated the US Constitution’s Second Amendment, which allows citizens to possess handguns in their homes for self-defense.
The US District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the case—then known as Parker v. District of Columbia—on the grounds that the Second Amendment only applied to organized armed forces, such as the National Guard, and not to individuals. The court also dismissed all the plaintiffs from the suit except Heller because the laws were never enforced against the others. (Heller had been denied a handgun permit.) Heller appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The appeals court was faced with deciding whether the Second Amendment specifically applied to groups, such as a militia, or to individuals. On March 9, 2007, the court ruled that the Second Amendment protected an individual’s right to bear firearms and reversed the prior decision. The appeals court also decided that the District of Columbia’s laws were unconstitutional because they did not allow the use of handguns for self-defense in the home. The District appealed this decision to the US Supreme Court. On June 26, 2008, the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the appeals court, ruling the District of Columbia’s gun laws unconstitutional.
Impact
District of Columbia v. Heller marked the first time since United States v. Miller (1939) that the Second Amendment was challenged in a US Supreme Court case. The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the ruling of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit protected an individual’s Second Amendment right to bear arms. The ruling also invalidated the District of Columbia’s gun-ban laws from 1976, which the courts said violated the Second Amendment.
Bibliography
Chemerinsky, Erwin, et al. After Heller: The New American Debate about Guns. Washington: Cato Institute, 2008. Print.
Duggan, Paul. “Lawyer Who Wiped Out D.C. Ban Says It’s About Liberties, Not Guns.” Washington Post. Washington Post, 18 Mar. 2007. Web. 15 Aug. 2012.
Duke Law. “District of Columbia v. Heller.” Duke Law. Duke University, n.d. Web. 9 Aug. 2012.
Legal Information Institute. “District of Columbia v. Heller (07-290).” Legal Information Institute. Cornell University Law School, n.d. Web. 10 Aug. 2012.