Second amendment ruling from the Supreme Court

In the final decision of the Supreme Court of the United States this session, the Supreme Court position on gun control has been clarified. This ruling does strike down laws that limit handgun ownership – to a point. For probably the most part, McDonald v. Chicago clarifies the 2008 decision striking down a Washington D.C. law.

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SCOTUS rules on gun ownership

Within the last three years, the Supreme Court has rendered two decisions on the constitutionality of gun bans. Probably the most recent case, McDonald v. Chicago, challenged the ability of Chicago to ban handguns. Handgun ownership can’t be banned in federal districts, as outlined by the 2008 Supreme Court ruling. This second ruling confirms that the very same standard applies to states and cities. Within the written decision of the 5-4 ruling, Alito wrote that “self-defense is a basic right… individual self-defense is ‘the central component’ of the Second Amendment .”

Some legislation can nevertheless be constitutional

Gun-limiting legislation is not entirely unconstitutional, though – the ruling does leave open a possibility of future legislation. The original 2008 ruling was repeated when the majority decision stated “recognized that the right to keep and bear arms is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whichever purpose.” In other words, cities, states and also the federal government does nevertheless have the right to legislate and limit guns. The right to own guns, though, may nevertheless supersede the right of the government to limit that ownership.

Other rulings of the court

Today, the court handed down decisions far beyond just the Second Amendment. The Court declared the Public Business Accounting Board, as it was created, is unconstitutional. This is a board that was designed in 2002 to audit public companies, in response to the failure of Enron and WorldCon. The board can be made constitutional if the Securities and Exchange Commission gets more control over the board. The court also rendered decisions in Bilski v. Kappos, which denied a patent for a strategy in hedging financial risk.