On The Front Lines
U.S. Supreme Court Rules 5-4 that the 'Right to Keep and Bear Arms' Applies to States
WASHINGTON, DC -- In a 5-4 ruling in McDonald v. City of Chicago, the United States Supreme Court has declared that the "right to keep and bear arms," which is guaranteed by the Second Amendment, "applies equally to the federal government and the states." The McDonald ruling expands on a 2008 decision in Heller v. District of Columbia in which the Court held that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to possess guns, at least for purposes of self-defense in the home.
The Rutherford Institute had filed a friend of the court brief with the Court in McDonald v. City of Chicago. A copy of The Rutherford Institute's amicus brief is available here.
"The Second Amendment was appended to the Constitution to provide citizens with the means to protect themselves, and was meant to restrain overbearing legislatures at all levels of government bent upon interfering with the basic right to keep and bear arms," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "In keeping with this country's historical roots and traditions, the Supreme Court's decision ensures that state governments cannot ride roughshod over this bedrock principle of liberty--a right which pre-dates the establishment of the United States."
In its 2008 ruling in Heller v. District of Columbia, the Supreme Court expressly extended the application of the Second Amendment's right to keep and bear arms to the federal government, holding that citizens of the District of Columbia had the inherent right, as individuals, to keep and bear arms in their homes.
In McDonald v. City of Chicago, the City of Chicago maintained that it had the power to forbid citizens of Chicago from possessing handguns in their homes. However, as The Rutherford Institute pointed out in its brief, under the City's argument, "virtually nothing prevents states and localities from barring citizens from possessing handguns in their homes, even for purposes of self-defense and irrespective of the serious crime problems encountered by residents of that city and other cities and states throughout the nation."
Calling the Court's ruling in Heller "a triumph of individual liberty over encroachment by government of any sort," the brief went on to state that "although it is clear that militias as the authors of the Second Amendment knew them do not exist today, the need for self-defense and defense of the home has not disappeared."
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