"Nowhere else in the Constitution does a “right” attributed to “the people” refer to anything other than an individual right...Putting all of these textual elements together, we find that they guarantee the individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation."

Key Principle: The Second Amendment specifically protects an individual's right to keep and bear arms, unconnected with service in a militia, for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.

Heller is THE landmark Second Amendment decision to date. In this case, the Supreme Court, in a 5 to 4 vote, struck down the District of Columbia's handgun ban and requirement that lawfully owned rifles and shotguns be kept "unloaded and disassembled or bound by a trigger lock" as violating the Second Amendment. While it did admit that the right to bear arms is not unlimited, it struck down the notion that the Second Amendment was intended solely for the purpose of state militias rather than individuals.

Using a strategy that Thurgood Marshall employed to overturn school segregation, Plaintiffs actually included not just Dick Anthony Heller, a DC cop, but a diverse group in terms in terms of gender, race, economic background and age. Shelly Parker, a former nurse working to rid her neighborhood of drugs, was a single woman who had been threatened repeatedly by drug dealers. Tom Palmer, a gay man defended himself against a group of 20 attackers with a 9mm handgun and believed the handgun saved his life. Gillian St. Lawrence a mortgage broker and recreational shooter who was unable to register guns for self defense. Tracey Ambeau, a Department of Agriculture employee from Louisiana, who grew up around guns but wanted a gun to defend herself in her high crime DC neighborhood. And finally George Lyon, a communications lawyer who was permitted to have a shotgun and rifle in his home, but not a handgun.

The core issue at stake was whether the Second Amendment was an individual right intimately tied to the natural right of self defense. The majority, lead by Justice Antonin Scalia, held that it was. Scalia reasoned that the historical background and reading of the Constitution supports a finding that the right to bear arms that belongs to individuals. Specifically, the Court's opinion that the "People" to whom the Second Amendment right is accorded are the same type of "People" that enjoy First and Fourth Amendment protections - the regular citizens of the United States. The Constitution was intended to be understood by voters and regular people, it's words and phrases being used in an ordinary and normal sense, rather than some technical meaning that the liberal justices would attempt to assert (the dissent under Justice Stevens argued that using the word "militia" in the preamble means it only applies to state militia service).

Therefore, the Court held that a total ban on handguns in the home is unconstitutional, as a total ban runs against the Second Amendment. It also relied on another decision, the Miller decision (which I'll cover in the future), which stated that the Second Amendment protects types of guns that are in "common use at the time". Since handguns are "in common use" - they are therefore protected. It ordered that the District of Columbia MUST permit Heller (and the plaintiffs) to register a handgun and MUST issue a license to carry the handgun in the home.

This case law is critical in the war against the Second Amendment and also is one of the pillars that will prevent the all out ban of specific weapons, such as AR-15's, that are commonly used for self defense. However, expect that the socialists will disregard this law in their attempt to strip away gun rights.