After gun-rights ruling, both sides look to next move

One key question in the nation’s gun debate now has an answer, but no one expects it to end the argument.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the Second Amendment’s “right to keep and bear arms” applies to private citizens – a practice already observed in most parts of the country but never fully protected until now.

Supporters of gun control have long argued that the Second Amendment guarantees firearms to militia-type organizations only – yesterday’s version of the National Guard.

Thursday was the first time that the high court has given its own interpretation. The case stemmed from Washington, D.C.’s 32-year ban on handguns within the city.

The justices split 5-4 on their decision – a reflection of the nation’s near-even division when it comes to views on guns. While the United States is the most heavily armed country in the world, with an estimated 270 million firearms, surveys consistently indicate that roughly half of all Americans don’t own a gun.

Writing on behalf of the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said: “The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for

traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.”

Justice Stephen Breyer, in a dissenting opinion, wrote: “In my view, there simply is no untouchable Constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment to keep loaded handguns in the house … ”

The landmark ruling is the result of a lawsuit brought by security guard Dick Heller against Washington, D.C. The district has the strictest gun policy in the nation: Handguns are banned, and rifles and shotguns must be unloaded and outfitted with trigger locks or disassembled.

Heller said he lives in a high-crime part of town and applied for permission to keep a handgun in his home to protect his family. When turned down, he sued the city. Heller lost the first round, then won on appeal. Lower courts have often disagreed on gun rights. Both Heller and the district asked the Supreme Court to settle the issue.

Second Amendment cases have reached the Supreme Court before, but none have zeroed in on the fundamental right of gun ownership, a question that has fueled decades of fiery debate.

“This puts us on a solid rock,” said Philip Van Cleave, head of the pro-gun Virginia Citizens Defense League. “It eliminates the other side’s contention that this is not an individual right. This took a whole lot of wind out of their sails.”

Ron Hyson, a gun owner from Virginia Beach, said he’s relieved. “This was kind of a fence-sitter. The sad thing now is you’ll hear a whole lot of nitpicking about it. We’ll be celebrating, but we’ll be questioning what’s next.”

At the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, based in Washington, executive director Josh Horwitz is pondering the same thing.

“We’ve got a bunch of unanswered questions,” he said. “But the reality is that the idea that the federal government is going to come in and ban guns is off the table. It probably always was.”

Horwitz said he takes heart in the fact that the justices left room for “reasonable regulation” of firearms. They specifically cited laws that bar felons and mentally ill people from owning guns, prohibit weapons inside schools and other sensitive places, outlaw particularly dangerous weapons, and regulate commercial sales.

“Now, it’s all about what’s reasonable and what isn’t,” Horwitz said. “And it’s clear we have a wide swath of options. So I’ll go back to my desk and pursue the policies I’ve always pursued. This doesn’t put an end to the gun-control debate.”

Horwitz pointed out that because the district is not a state, Thursday’s ruling does not automatically apply outside the city limits.

It’s only a matter of time before it does, said William Van Alstyne, a professor and constitutional law expert at the College of William and Mary.

Van Alstyne said similar bans in other cities and counties will now be challenged and struck down. The National Rifle Association has already said that it intends to file lawsuits in Chicago, several of its suburbs and San Francisco.

“This case is to the Second Amendment what Roe vs. Wade was to abortion,” he said. “That one didn’t settle all the questions, and some people still don’t like it, but it was a watershed, like this one.”

Van Alstyne said the ruling’s “heat and volume” give the opinion added weight – 150 pages of research and dissections of the amendment’s 27 words, broken down phrase by phrase. The justices explored historical context and took into account how Americans spoke and wrote two centuries ago, when the amendment was ratified.

“Some people might try to dismiss it by saying it doesn’t amount to much, but that’s just wrong. This is serious business – a meaningful opinion that will stand for the indefinite future.”

No one expects Virginia’s state laws to be affected. Attorney General Bob McDonnell filed a brief with the court opposing the D.C. handgun ban, joining 30 other states on Heller’s side.

“This is a tremendous victory for individual liberty and freedom,” McDonnell said. “It ratifies what Virginia has always believed about the Second Amendment.”

Staff writers Julian Walker and Dale Eisman contributed to this report.

Joanne Kimberlin, (757) 446-2338, joanne.kimberlin@pilotonline.com