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Legal Action Project Second Amendment
The Second Amendment and Common Sense Gun Laws
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On June 26, 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-4 opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller.  Justice Scalia, writing for the majority, held that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess handguns for use in self-defense in a person’s home.  However, he stressed that this right “is not unlimited.”

Although the Court split 5-4 on the whether the right granted by the Second Amendment is tied to militia service, all nine Justices agreed that a wide variety of gun laws are “presumptively lawful.”  The Court listed many types of laws that would not be barred by the Second Amendment and stated that this “list does not purport to be exhaustive.”

  • Bans on gun possession by dangerous persons such as felons and the mentally ill
  • Laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in “sensitive places” such as schools and government buildings
  • Laws imposing conditions and qualifications on gun sales, which could include background checks, licensing, and limits on bulk sales of handguns
  • Prohibitions on carrying concealed weapons
  • Prohibitions on dangerous and unusual weapons, such as machineguns and military-style semiautomatic assault weapons
  • Safe storage laws to prevent gun accidents.

» Click here to learn about the impact of the Heller case
» Click here to read critiques of the Heller ruling


Unintended Consequences

Brady Center Report: Unintended Consequences: What the Supreme Court's Second Amendment Decision in D.C. v. Heller Means for the Future of Gun Laws
U.S. Supreme Court Takes City of Chicago Case to Decide Second Amendment Incorporation Issue

The U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will take a suit attacking Chicago's handgun ban, McDonald v. Chicago, to determine whether its Second Amendment ruling last year applies to states and localities.

In 2008, the Supreme Court, in District of Columbia v. Heller, ruled that law-abiding citizens have a right to firearms for self-defense in the home. In the Chicago case, the Court will determine if the Heller ruling applies to localities and states as it does to Washington, D.C., which is a federal jurisdiction.

In a statement, Brady President Paul Helmke said "Even if the Court were to hold the Second Amendment applicable to states and localities, such a ruling is unlikely to change the crucial holding by the Supreme Court in Heller that a wide range of reasonable gun laws are presumptively constitutional, and that the Second Amendment right is narrowly limited to guns in the home for self-defense.".

» Click here to read the full statement


U.S. Supreme Court takes City of Chicago case to decide Second Amendment Incorporation issue