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US citizens must retain right to bear arms, top court rules
Americans have a constitutional right to keep guns in their homes for self-defence, the Supreme Court said in a landmark ruling on Thursday.
- The Daily Telegraph
- Published: 00:04 June 28, 2008
New York: Americans have a constitutional right to keep guns in their homes for self-defence, the Supreme Court said in a landmark ruling on Thursday.
For the first time in American history, the country's highest court struck down as unconstitutional a gun control law - a 32-year-old ban on handguns in Washington DC.
The 5-4 decision - which was disputed by the court's liberal members - is likely to prompt immediate legal challenges to gun restrictions across the United States.
The National Rifle Association, the biggest US gun rights group, hailed it as a "monumental victory" and said it would file lawsuits in San Francisco and Chicago challenging handgun controls.
The court ruled that the Second Amendment to the US Constitution protected an individual right to possess a firearm that was unconnected with service in a militia.
That gun could be used for traditionally lawful purposes such as hunting and defence of the home, wrote Justice Antonin Scalia, himself a hunter.
John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, applauded the decision and criticised Barack Obama, his Democrat rival, for his recent allegedly disparaging remarks about American gun owners.
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