Supreme Court To Tackle Second Amendment Case

The US Supreme Court will hear a case that will determine the extent to which the government can limit an individual's right to bear arms. ScotusBlog has the details. The Court will be framing the question as they see fit:

The Justices chose to write out for themselves the constitutional question they will undertake to answer. Both sides had urged the Court to hear the city’s case, but they had disagreed over how to frame the Second Amendment issue.

Here is the way the Court phrased the granted issue:

“Whether the following provisions — D.C. Code secs. 7-2502.02(a)(4), 22-4504(a), and 7-2507.02 — violate the Second Amendment rights of individuals who are not affiliated with any state-regulated militia, but who wish to keep handguns and other firearms for private use in their homes?”

The first listed section bars registration of pistols if not registered before Sept. 24, 1976; the second bars carrying an unlicensed pistol, and the third requires that any gun kept at home must be unloaded and disassembled or bound by a lock, such as one that prevents the trigger from operating.

The Court did not mention any other issues that it might address as questions of its jurisdiction to reach the ultimate question: did the one individual who was found to have a right to sue have a right to challenge all three of the sections of the local law cited in the Court’s order, and, is the District of Columbia, as a federal enclave, even covered by the Second Amendment. While neither of those issues is posed in the grant order, the Court may have to be satisfied that the answer to both is affirmative before it would move on to the substantive question about the scope of any right protected by the Amendment.

The case is District of Columbia v. Heller, 07-290, and it is the first time the Supreme Court is tackling a Second Amendment case in 68 years.

While I think Roberts might try to get a unanimous ruling, precisely because of the right at stake, I expect a 5-4 ruling - and the swing vote would likely be Kennedy.

For those that need a reminder, the Second Amendment is as follows:

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.

Hot Air is not excited about the prospects, especially because of Kennedy being the swing vote.

UPDATE:
As I didn't explicitly state above, the key is how the Court is framing the issue. It's a DC law at issue, and the question is whether individuals who are not members of a state based militia have a right to bear arms. Could this be a bit of insight into how the Court may rule on the matter?

Only time will tell.

UPDATE:
The order is here.