In the more than 10 years since the Supreme Court ruled that Americans have a fundamental right to keep a handgun for self-defense in the home, countless laws regulating firearms and their use have survived constitutional scrutiny. Which is to say: The Supreme Court has been in no mood to expand or clarify the meaning of District of Columbia v. Heller, which the justices have interpreted to apply in all 50 states. Nor did the court take on any other Second Amendment cases in the decade after deciding the Heller case. Lower courts have read the Heller opinion as permitting all manner of gun-control measures, including bans on assault rifles and high-capacity magazines. He had been a justice for only a few months when the Supreme Court broke its decade-long reticence on the Second Amendment by agreeing to hear the New York City case.

Source: New York Times December 03, 2019 00:33 UTC