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Summary

In District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in a 5-4 decision that the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States protects an individual right to possess a firearm, irrespective of service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes such as self-defense within the home. The decision in Heller affirmed the holding in Parker v. District of Columbia, wherein the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia declared three provisions of the District's Firearms Control Regulation Act to be unconstitutional: D.C. Code ? 7-2502.02, which generally barred the registration of handguns; ? 22-4504, which prohibited carrying a pistol without a license, insofar as that provision would prevent a registrant from moving a gun from one room to another within his or her home; and ? 7-2507.02, which required that all lawfully owned firearms be kept unloaded and disassembled or bound by a trigger lock or similar device. Addressing the holding in Parker, the Supreme Court noted that the District's approach "totally bans handgun possession in the home." The Court then declared that the inherent right of self-defense is central to the Second Amendment right, and that the District's handgun ban amounted to a prohibition of an entire class of arms that has been overwhelmingly utilized by American society for that purpose. The Court also struck down as unconstitutional the requirement that any lawful firearm in the home be disassembled or bound by a trigger lock, as such a requirement "makes it impossible for citizens to use arms for the core lawful purpose of self-defense." This report provides an overview of judicial treatment of the Second Amendment over the past 70 years, with a focus on the Court's decision in Heller. Additionally, this report provides an analysis of the D.C. Council's response to the holding in Heller, legislative responses thereto, and a consideration of the implications of the Court's holding for firearm legislation at the federal, state, and local level.

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