The conclusion of the coming Supreme Court term will see the tenth anniversary of District of Columbia v. Heller, the Court’s landmark opinion confirming that a ban on registering handguns and a requirement to keep guns in the home disassembled or nonfunctional with a trigger lock mechanism violates the Second Amendment. Seven years have passed since the Court held in McDonald v. City of Chicago that the Fourteenth Amendment makes the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self-defense applicable to the states. Yet the Court has since remained nearly silent on the subject, as the lower federal courts struggle to answer challenges to laws restricting who may have arms, the type of arms that might be had, and the gun-related activities in which people may engage. Alan Gura, the attorney who argued and won Heller and McDonald, reviewed the courts’ evolving approach to Second Amendment rights, and discussed the prospects for the eventual return of the right to keep and bear arms to One First Street.
Featuring:
Alan Gura, Partner, Gura PLLC