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Summary

In Parker v. District of Columbia, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in a 2-1 decision that provisions of the D.C. Code that prohibit persons from keeping handguns in their home are unconstitutional in that they infringe upon the individual right to keep and bear arms. Upon making this determination, the court ruled that three elements of the D.C. gun control statutes were unconstitutional: (1) an effective prohibition on the registration of pistols (D.C. Code � 7-2502.2); (2) a prohibition on carrying a pistol, insofar as the prohibition could be construed to prohibit the keeping of a handgun in the home and preventing it from being moved throughout a person's home (D.C. Code � 22-4504); and (3) a statutory requirement that a registered firearm be kept unloaded and disassembled or bound by a trigger lock (D.C. Code � 7-2507.02). The Supreme Court of the United States granted a petition for certiorari on November 20, 2007, limited to the question of "[w]hether the following provisions, D.C. Code �� 7-2502.02(a)(4), 22-4504(a), and 7-2507.02, violate the Second Amendment rights of individuals who are not affiliated with any state-regulated militia, but who wish to keep handguns and other firearms for private use in their homes?" The Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments in the case, now called District of Columbia v. Heller, on March 18, 2008, and a decision is expected to be issued during the summer of 2008. Heller marks the first time in almost 70 years that the Supreme Court has agreed to consider the nature of the right conferred by the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. This report provides an overview of prior judicial treatment of the Second Amendment, with a focus on the litigation in Heller and the potential impact of its outcome.

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