NRA-ILA GRASSROOTS ALERT
Vol. 17, No. 9 03/5/10

U.S. Supreme Court Hears Chicago Gun Ban Case

On Tuesday, March 2, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of McDonald v. City of Chicago. The case may well decide the scope and nature of gun laws in the United States for decades to come. The final decision will be handed down in a few months, most likely in June.

As we’ve reported in past alerts and in NRA magazines, McDonald is one of two challenges to the Chicago handgun ban that were filed immediately after gun owners’ landmark 2008 victory in District of Columbia v. Heller. After the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled-wrongly-that 19th century cases denied any right to Second Amendment protection against state and local laws, both McDonald and the companion case, NRA v. City of Chicago, were appealed.

The Court agreed to hear the McDonald case, but since that decision would affect the NRA case equally, the NRA was also a party to the McDonald case, and the Court granted us a share of the oral argument time.