Tag Archives: Court Cases

McDonald v. City of Chicago

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2010

Challenged Chicago’s gun registration

 

Argued March 2, 2010
Decided June 28, 2010

  • 561 U.S. 742
  • Applied the 2nd Amendment to the states through the 14th Amendment
  • decision of the Supreme Court of the United States
  • found that the right of an individual to “keep and bear arms” is protected under the Second Amendment

14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1868, granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States—including former slaves—and guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws.”

All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. – Section 1

14th Amendment 1868

District of Columbia vs. Heller

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2008

Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to possess a firearm

 

  • Argued March 18, 2008
    Decided June 26, 2008
  • 554 U.S. 570
  •  landmark case from the Supreme Court of the United States
  • held that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia
  • Supreme Court affirmed by a vote of 5 to 4
  • Heller had approached the National Rifle Association about a lawsuit to overturn the D.C. gun ban, but they declined

United States v. Miller

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1939

Upheld a federal ban on sawed-off shotguns

 

  • March 30, 1939 United States v Miller – Argued
  • May 15, 1939 United States v Miller – Decided
  • Ruling on the National Firearms Act of 1934
  • Supreme Court upholds a federal ban on sawed-off shotguns
  • Supreme court ruled that when called for militia duty,
    “these men were expected to appear bearing arms supplied by themselves
    and of the kind in common use at the time.”
  • (U.S. v Miller, 307 US 174)

District Court Western District Arkansas, charged that Jack Miller and Frank Layton ‘did unlawfully, knowingly, wilfully, and feloniously transport in interstate commerce from the town of Claremore in the State of Oklahoma to the town of Siloam Springs in the State of Arkansas a certain firearm, to-wit, a double barrel 12-gauge Stevens shotgun having a barrel less than 18 inches in length

Presser v. Illinois

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1885

Second Amendment limited only the power of national government, not of the states to control firearms

 

Argued November 23–24, 1885
Decided January 4, 1886

the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution limited only the power of Congress and the national government to control firearms, not that of the states, a

 “Unless restrained by their own constitutions, state legislatures may enact statutes to control and regulate all organizations, drilling, and parading of military bodies and associations except those which are authorized by the militia laws of the United States.” It states that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution limited only the power of Congress and the national government to control firearms, not that of the states, and that the right to peaceably assemble was not protected by the clause referred to except to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

United States v. Cruikshank

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1876

the Bill of Rights did not apply to private actors or state governments, despite the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment


Argued March 30 – April 1, 1875
Decided March 27, 1876

rules that the Second Amendment does not guarantee an individual right to keep and bear arms