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According to the district, the Second Amendment does not protect an individual's right to own a handgun and only applies to the militia. |
The Second Amendment states that "a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."
"A central question the DC case poses is whether the Second Amendment protects an individual's rights to keep and bear arms," says an article on washingtonpost.com.
According to the district, the Second Amendment does not protect an individual's right to own a handgun and only applies to the militia.
However, the U.S. Court of Appeals, which opposes the ban, "ruled that the city's prohibition against residents keeping handguns in their homes is unconstitutional," continues the article.
Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, said, "Any accurate, unbiased reading of American history is going to come down to this being an individual right. To deny people the right to own a firearm in their home for personal protection," he said, "is simply out of step with the Constitution."
What do gun control advocates have to say? Walter E. Dellinger, III, a former acting solicitor general, said, "This is not a law which takes away the rights to keep and bear arms. It regulates one kind of weapon: handguns."
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