District of Columbia v. Heller | BRI’s Homework Help Series
Does the 2nd Amendment protect an individual or a collective right to bear arms? Find out the answer to this question in the latest episode of BRI's Homework Help Series on the case of District of Columbia v. Heller. 2008 Supreme Court case
0:00 Have you ever wondered what rights you have to protect yourself and your home? The Second Amendment to the Constitution refers to a U.S. citizen’s right to bear arms. It reads “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.”
0:23 In 2008, the Supreme Court made a decision that went to the heart of the debate over whether the second Amendment protects an individual’s rights or a collective right to bear arms. This is the story of D.C. v. Heller
0:46 Let’s rewind to 1975, when the District of Columbia passed the Firearms Control Regulations Act in an effort to reduce gun related crimes and firearms trafficking. Considered one of the strictest gun control laws in the country, the act generally banned D.C. residents from owning handguns.
1:06 It also required that any legally owned firearms remain unloaded, disassembled or bound by a trigger lock at all times in the home. But some thought that the act was unconstitutional, including local police officer Dick Heller. Under D.C. law, Heller was permitted to carry a loaded weapon at work,
1:29 but not have it at home, believing that the act violated his Second Amendment right to own a loaded weapon for self-defense. Heller took the District of Columbia to court. His first attempt was unsuccessful with the local district court dismissing the suit. But Heller’s lawyers appealed, and this time he won.
1:51 So the District of Columbia appealed to the Supreme Court, and it agreed to hear the case. On June 26, 2008, in a close 5 to 4 decision. The court ruled in favor of Heller. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the majority opinion stating that the Second Amendment protected the individual’s right to bear arms for self-defense
2:14 and not just the right to bear arms in a militia. He wrote that when the Constitution referred to the right of the people, it was talking about individual rights, not collective rights or the rights that may be exercised only through participation in some corporate body. In his dissenting opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens argued
2:36 “The Second Amendment was adopted to protect the right of the people of each of the several states to maintain a well-regulated militia, not to protect the individual’s right to bear arms.” The D.C. v. Heller decision ruled that the federal government cannot pass laws that violate an individual’s right to bear arms under the Second Amendment.
2:59 It also opened the door for cases such as McDonald v. Chicago, which overturned similar bans in Chicago and applied it to the States. With many of the controversies surrounding gun control and constitutional rights continuing, the court will face additional cases in the future. What do you think will be the next Supreme Court case involving the Second Amendment?
