Right to bear arms – everywhere?
If you thought the issue of individual Second Amendment rights was settled by the U.S. Supreme Court in DC v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago - where the court held that the individual right to gun ownership trumped some local and federal gun control laws – you were incorrect.
The issue of gun rights is back again at the Court’s doorstep: the National Rifle Association has asked the Court to take up a new case and declare a constitutionally protected right to carry a gun on one’s person or in a car.
“Some judges have buried their heads in the sand and have refused to go one step further” than saying there is a right to have a gun at home, Stephen Halbrook, an NRA lawyer, told the Los Angeles Times about lower court rulings which have not gone as far and gun rights advocates would like.
The lower court Second Amendment rulings have been hailed by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. As we reported earlier, the center released a report titled “Hallow Victory?” which found that the lower courts have not used Heller and McDonald as broadly as gun advocates may have anticipated.
