Texas-Book-Gun Law Armed And Educated - Flipbook - Page 17
D. Can states ignore the Second Amendment? McDonald v.
City of Chicago
D.C. v. Heller was fantastic, but there was a slight quirk: the District
of Columbia is under the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress and
is not part of any state. Therefore, the case shed no light on the
question of what states can do when it comes to regulating or
banning firearms. How do state constitutions interact with the
Second Amendment? Can states ban guns outright? Two years
after Heller, McDonald v. City of Chicago sought to answer these
important questions.
McDONALD v. CITY OF CHICAGO, 561 U.S. 742 (2010)
THE FACTS
A Chicago city ordinance banned handgun possession (among
other gun regulations). McDonald was a 76-year-old retired
maintenance engineer who wanted a handgun for self-defense.
Chicago required that all handguns had to be registered, but
refused all handgun registration after a 1982 citywide ban.
THE LEGAL HOLDING
The Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment is fully
applicable to the states and that individual self-defense is “the
central component” of the Second Amendment. Therefore, the
Second Amendment prohibits states from enacting bans on
handguns for self-protection in the home.
E. Legal limitations of the right to keep and bear arms
The U.S. Supreme Court has stated: “Of course the right [to keep and
bear arms] was not unlimited, just as the First Amendment’s right of
free speech was not.” D.C. v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008). Courts
may have struggled over the years with what the Second Amendment
means, but they have been resolute that there is an element of self-
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