Supreme Court Rules against D.C. Gun-Control Law

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On June 26, by handing down a 5-4 decision in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which had struck down provisions of the District's Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975 as unconstitutional. The act restricted residents from owning handguns--except for those "grandfathered" in by registration prior to 1975 or held by active or retired law-enforcement officers. Additionally, the law required that even rifles and shotguns be kept "unloaded and disassembled or bound by a trigger lock."

Speaking for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said that the Constitution does not …