National Review by By David B. Kopel September 12, 2019
Many courts are failing to uphold the Second AmendmentThe Supreme Court’s 2008 District of Columbia v. Heller decision affirmed that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to arms. Two years later, McDonald v. Chicago made that right enforceable against state and local governments.
The McDonald Court declared that the Second Amendment is not a “second-class right,†to be “singled out for special — and specially unfavorable — treatment.†In 2019, however, Heller is in a precarious situation: There have been numerous victories for gun rights, but many lower courts have in practice nullified the Second Amendment. Later this year, the Supreme Court may hear a case involving egregious Second Amendment infringements by the New York City government. The Court should take the opportunity not only to strike New York’s abuses, but also to firmly remind lower courts that the Second Amendment is a first-class civil right.
Before Heller, Washington, D.C., banned handguns and required that long guns be stored in an inoperable state, rendering them useless for self-defense. Today, D.C. citizens not only may defend their homes and families with handguns or long guns but also may carry handguns in public. The D.C. handgun-carry licensing system is not perfect, but it does provide a fair pathway for applicants who pass safety training and a fingerprint-based background check — thanks to the D.C. Circuit’s 2017 decision in Wrenn v. District of Columbia.
Heller and McDonald ended handgun bans in Chicago and six of its suburbs. Then, in 2012, the Seventh Circuit in Moore v. Madigan struck down Illinois’s statewide ban on carrying guns in public. Now, Illinoisans, like residents of D.C. and most of the rest of the nation, can bear arms lawfully.
More:
https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2019/09/30/hellers-precarious-situation%E2%80%88/
