Supreme Court Lifts D.C. Gun Ban

On Thursday, June 26, the United States Supreme Court released its long-awaited decision on District of Columbia v. Heller, ruling by a 5-4 margin that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual’s right to keep and bear arms. In his majority opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that the Second Amendment “elevates above all other interests the right of law-abiding, responsible citizens to use arms in defense of hearth and home.” This decision renders a Washington, D.C., ordinance prohibiting private handgun ownership unconstitutional.

NSSF president Steve Sanetti called the decision “a major victory for all Americans,” saying that “the Heller decision reaffirms the wisdom of our founding fathers in creating the Bill of Rights to protect and preserve individual rights, the cornerstone of our democracy.”

Lawrence G. Keane, the NSSF’s senior vice president and general counsel, said, “This decision lays to rest the specious argument that the Second Amendment is not an individual right and marks the beginning of the end of repressive gun laws that have infringed upon individual liberty and done nothing to make America safer.”