Thursday, March 25, 2010

Gun control laws in the states

In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court, in District of Columbia v. Heller, decided that the Second Amendment prohibited a very strict gun control law in D.C., an area governed by federal law. This year the Court is asked to decide, in McDonald v. City of Chicago, if the Second Amendment’s individual right to keep and bear arms should be incorporated against state and local government  — through either the Privileges or Immunities Clause or the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Scotusblog, a blog devoted to Supreme Court news, posted several podcasts with lawyers involved in the case to capture the full scope of argument in this very complicated case.

  • For the petitioners, their counsel: Alan Gura of Gura and Possessky, PLLC, counsel to the Second Amendment Foundation
  • In support of the petitioners, arguing for incorporation through the Privileges or Immunities Clause: Ilya Shapiro of the Cato Institute
  • In support of the respondents, arguing against incorporation: Charles Dyke of Nixon Peabody LLP, representing the Board of Education of the City of Chicago, the Institute of Medicine of Chicago, Wayman African Methodist Episcopal Church of Chicago, the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, et al.
  • In support of neither party, arguing that the Court should consider the public interest in gun control laws: Jon Lowy of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence

4 to 7 minutes, no transcript