Problem: A Right to Bear Arms

Addressing one of the most contentious questions in American constitutional history, the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008 ruled 5-4 that the Second Amendment guarantees individual Americans a fundamental right to bear arms. The Supreme Court's four conservative justices, joined by the more moderate Justice Kennedy, ruled that individuals have a constitutional right to keep loaded arms for self-defense, at least in the home. The majority view was based on its reading of the historical record associated with the Second Amendment, while the four dissenting, liberal justices argued that the Second Amendment guaranteed only a collective right to bear arms in a militia. The decision struck down a District of Columbia law that effectively banned handgun possession. Security guard Dick Heller applied for and was denied a permit for a handgun in his home located in a dangerous Washington, D.C. neighborhood. He sued the District arguing that the gun ban violated his individual rights under the Second Amendment.

The Court did preserve the constitutionality of "reasonable" gun regulations and Justice Scalia, writing for the majority, said nothing in the ruling should "cast doubt on long-standing prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons or the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms." "Dangerous and unusual" weapons also could be banned. In its 2010 McDonald v. Chicago decision,2 the Supreme Court extended its Heller reasoning (applying only to federal jurisdictions) to the states and cities. Much more litigation remains. Lower court decisions are thus far split on the crucial question of whether states may lawfully bar or strictly limit carrying guns in p ublic for self-defense. Recent mass murders in a Wisconsin Sikh temple, in an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater, and at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, have energized the national debate over gun control. But according to a 2012 Gallup Poll, a record 74 percent of Americans support the right to own a handgun,3 and Congress rejected new gun control measures following the Sandy Hook shootings.

Questions

1. As you interpret the Second Amendment, did the Supreme Court reach a correct decision in the Heller case? Explain.

2. In Chicago, 32 public school students died of gunshot wounds in 2009.4 In all of Australia in 2008, by contrast, 30 people died by gun homicide.5 As a matter of public policy, did the Supreme Court reach a wise decision in the Heller case? Explain.

3. Six states specifically permit the concealed carrying of weapons on campus by students and others with the remaining states about evenly split between those that ban the concealed carrying of weapons on college campuses and those that leave the decision to the school. What are your thoughts about student s and faculty members carrying guns on your campus?