District of Columbia Takes Gun Law Case to Supreme Court

Greg Stohr for Bloomberg reports: The District of Columbia will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to revive the city's decades-old ban on handguns in a case that may determine whether the Constitution guarantees an individual's right to own firearms. Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty today said the city will ask the justices to review a federal appeals court's conclusion that the city is violating its residents' right to use handguns for self-defense in their homes. “We have made the determination that this law can and should be defended, and we are willing to take our case to the highest court in the land to protect the city's residents,'' Fenty said in a press release. The high court has never said whether the Constitution's Second Amendment covers individuals who don't belong to a state- run militia, such as the National Guard. The justices last considered the question in 1939, issuing a ruling that both sides in the debate now claim as support for their position.