Case Summary
Issue:
Whether the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to keep and bear arms, or whether the right protected by the Second Amendment is a collective right held solely by militias?
Plaintiff:
The District of Columbia and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty
Defendant:
Dick Anthony Heller
Amicus Curiae:
Mountain States Legal Foundation
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Case History
Since 1975, the District of Columbia has had one of the Nation’s most stringent gun control laws under which private citizens may not keep weapons in their homes to provide effectively for their own self defense. Dick Anthony Heller, a District of Columbia special police officer permitted to carry a handgun while on duty but barred from keeping a gun in his home for self-defense, sought a permit to do so. When his application was denied, he sued under the Second Amendment. His lawsuit was dismissed by the district court; however, in March 2007, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed.
In November 2007, the Supreme Court agreed to decide whether the Constitution protects, as the Court of Appeals ruled, an individual right to keep and bear firearms unrelated to militia operations. On February 11, 2008, MSLF filed a friend of the court brief in support of Respondent. Oral argument was held on March 18, 2008.
