The Supreme Court has clarified their ruling on the constitutionality of gun control laws. To a point, the ban on ownership of handguns has been struck down. In 2008, the Supreme Court struck down a law banning handguns in Washington D.C. – and McDonald v. Chicago clarifies that ruling.
The Supreme Court gun decision
Within the last 3 years, the Supreme Court has rendered two decisions on the constitutionality of gun bans. McDonald vs. Chicago challenged Chicago’s very restrictive ban on individuals owning handguns. In 2008, the SCOTUS ruled that federal districts could not ban handgun ownership. States and cities are subject to the very same ruling, as outlined by the latest decision. In the written decision of the 5-4 ruling, Alito wrote that “self-defense is a basic right… individual self-defense is ‘the central component’ of the Second Amendment .”
Supreme Court leaves door open for gun legislation
Legislation that limits the ownership of handguns could still, under some situations, be considered constitutional. The majority opinion restates the 2008 caveat that “recognized that the right to keep and bear arms is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for no matter what purpose.” In other words, cities, states and also the federal government does nevertheless have the right to legislate and limit guns. The spot where the right to own guns supersedes the right of government to limit guns has still not been made clear.
The other rulings of the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court handed down multiple decisions today. First, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board was ruled unconstitutional. This is a board that was designed in 2002 to audit public companies, in response to the failure of Enron and WorldCon. The fix for this unconstitutionality, nevertheless, is simple; the Securities and Exchange Commission must be given more control. In Bilski v. Kappos, the court ruled that a patent can’t be taken out on financial risk limiting strategies.
