Most Gun Laws Legal Under High Court Ruling, But Chicago’s Is an Issue
Most gun restrictions are likely to survive the U.S. Supreme Court ruling yesterday that found an individual right under the Second Amendment to own a handgun for self-defense in the home.
Chicago, though, has a more comprehensive ban, the New York Times reports. A lawsuit (PDF filed by the New York Times) challenging its ordinance was filed soon after the decision. An issue in that case is likely to be whether the Second Amendment applies to the states.
Gun advocates also planned to file suit in San Francisco federal court today challenging a law in that city that prohibits guns in public housing, the Los Angeles Times reports. Suits were also being planned to challenge other gun regulations in California cities.
Yesterday’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller struck down a District of Columbia law that banned handguns in homes or required other firearms there to be outfitted with a trigger lock.
The opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia appears to allow licensing laws, bans on possession of guns by felons or the mentally ill, laws imposing conditions on the commercial sale of guns, bans on “dangerous and unusual” weapons, and bans on concealed weapons, the story says.
Forty states pre-empt gun regulations by local municipalities and cities, which tend to be the most activist in restricting handguns. Illinois doesn’t prohibit the handgun bans that have been enacted in Chicago and several of its suburbs. Toledo, Ohio, also has restrictions.
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley reacted angrily to the opinion yesterday, calling it “a very frightening decision,” the Chicago Tribune reports. He said he was sure mayors nationwide would be outraged.
New York allows handguns in the home if the owner gets a permit, but National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre told the New York Times the city is capricious in deciding who gets one. “If you are rich and famous, or a Wall Street executive or a celebrity or politically connected, you have no problem getting a permit,” he said. “But if you are an average citizen, you are flat out of luck.”
