District of Columbia Vs. Heller In 1976, the District of Columbia City Council enacted three of the strictest gun control ordinances in the United States. The ordinances entirely ban the possession of handguns within the District and, while allowing residents to keep rifles and shotguns in their homes, require those guns be kept disassembled or bound by a trigger lock. Then in 2003, Dick Heller and five other plaintiffs were recruited by lawyer, Robert Levy, and used to file suit against D.C. in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging that the D.C. Gun Ban violated their Second Amendment right to "keep and bear arms." The District Court found that the Second Amendment should not give an individual the right to gun ownership except where the individual is a member of an organized militia and granted the District's motion to dismiss. Heller and the other plaintiffs then appealed to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals then questioned whether the plaintiffs could even challenge the Gun Ban because the requirement was that a plaintiff must have suffered an actual injury due. In D.C. simply wanting to keep a handgun at home I snot enough to challenge the law. The court found that only Heller had a viable case, because he suffered an actual injury when the District denied his application for a handgun permit. The court dismissed the others from the suit because the ban had not actually impacted them yet. The Court of Appeals then considered whether the Second Amendment right to bear arms is an individual right or a right contingent on membership in a well-regulated militia. The court determined that when Congress passed the Bill of Rights, the term "militia" referred generally and broadly to the... ... middle of paper ... ... the Second Amendment provides a collective right to bear arms for individuals associated with an organized military force. This court’s ruling was the first to ever favor the right to bear arms for an individual and has changed how states regulate gun ownership. Bibliography Primary: "DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA v. HELLER." DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA v. HELLER. N.p., 18 Mar. 2008. Web. 03 Mar. 2014. Secondary: "District of Columbia v. Heller – Case Brief Summary." Lawnix Free Case Briefs RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2014. Duignan, Brian. "District of Columbia v. Heller (law Case)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2014. Streissguth, Thomas. District of Columbia v. Heller: The Right to Bear Arms Case. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2011. "United States: Gun Ownership and the Supreme Court." Second Amendment. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.
Carter, Gregg Lee, ed. “Federal Gun Laws.” Gun Control in the United States: A Reference
al., Appellants v. City of New York et al. Supreme Court of the United States. U.S. 1998. Web. 6 May 2014.
"Summary of the Decision." Landmark Cases Of The U.S Supreme Court. Street Law, Inc, n.d. Web. 1 Nov. 2013. .
"Key Supreme Court Cases: Schenck v. United States - American Bar ..." 2011. 14 Jan. 2014
" Schenck v. United States. Chicago-kent College of law , n.d. Web. 6 Jan. 2014.
Doeden, Matt. Gun Control: Preventing Violence or Crushing Constitutional Rights? Minneapolis: Lerner, 2012. 7- 61-63. Print.
By: Kristen Rand Summary / Analysis : This article discusses the amendment to gun control, specifically the right to bear arms. But it isn’t discussing it on the U.S. mainland, but instead on the District of Columbia. The controversy is whether or not the District is bound to the same laws and amendments that the rest of the United States is. The current law in Columbia is that there is a universal ban on guns. So should the U.S. Supreme Court vote to allow citizens to bear arms, or should the 30-year-old ban be erased?
Heller,” the United States Supreme Court revealed what the Second Amendment is really about. In June 2008, a S.W.A.T. officer with the Washington, D.C., Police Department sued in the District of Columbia District Court for the right to carry a handgun while off duty. The Supreme Court ruled that he had the right to carry a weapon for a lawful purpose, and the District Court's opinion was reversed from the decision in 1939 when the Second Amendment was last interpreted. It also ruled that two District of Columbia laws, one that banned handguns and the other one that required firearms kept in the home to be disassembled or trigger-locked, violated the Second Amendment
Library of Congress, “United States: Gun Ownership and the Supreme Court”. 2014. Web. 19 April 2014
Rauch, Jonathan. “The Right Kind of Gun Rights.” National Journal Vol. 40 Issue 11. Academic Search Complete. 15 Mar. 2013. Web. 6 June 2015.
The District of Columbia v. Heller plays an important role in shaping our right to keep and bear arms for self-defense by being the first court case that defines who can own guns for self-defend. The whole case is revolving around the Second Amendment and its meaning. Since the Second Amendment first enact into law in 1791, this prompts the court to look at it again. By understanding its original meaning, the court then can understand what intended to do and how it affects our current time. Before the Heller court case, States in America have its own laws on who can own and use guns. While some State is lax in their law...
The case of Columbia v. Heller, is a good example of how an interpretation of the 2nd Amendment can be misconstrued. Heller came...
Hall, Kermit L, eds. The Oxford guide to United States Supreme Court decisions New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
The second amendment states “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” The Founding Fathers included this in the Bill of Rights because they feared the Federal Government might oppress the population if the people did not have the means to defend themselves as a nation or individuals.
BLOODSWORTH v. STATE, 76 Md. App. 23 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland July 8, 1988).