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Hand Guns Should Not Be Banned Essay

856 Words4 Pages

The handgun has been debated many times over whether it should or ought to be banned in the United States.
Handguns are defined as “a firearm (such as a revolver or pistol) designed to be held and fired with one hand” ("Handgun," def. 1).
Two of the largest Supreme Court cases on these topics were the cases of the District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. City of Chicago. Both decisions represented major setbacks for advocates of handgun control.
In 1976, the District of Columbia had issued a ban on the private ownership of handguns. Dick Heller, who was supported by numerous gun rights groups, brought a court case arguing that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution forbade such a ban on handguns. When the case reached the Supreme Court in 2008, the Court rendered a 5-4 decision in favor of Heller’s position. Justice Antonin Scalia, writing the decision for the majority, essentially ruled that the Second …show more content…

Washington D.C. does not have the status of being its own state, the Congress of the United States controls its government. The Heller decision established that the federal government, given the limits of the Second Amendment, did not have the rights to ban handguns.
This issue was the central focus of the Supreme Court decision in McDonald v. The City of Chicago. The Courts ruled 5-4 that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution will apply to all levels of government, local, state, and federal. (McDonald)
Trip Gabriel, writing for the New York Times, provides the following review of public opinion on the subject of gun control: “Surveys show support for gun control has never been lower…for the first time, a majority, 53 percent, opposed a ban on semiautomatic guns, or assault rifles…a record low, 26 percent, favored banning handguns” (Gabriel

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563 Words | 3 Pages

Heller (2008) District of Columbia made it illegal to own a firearm without a license and if you had one it must be unloaded and have a trigger lock. Dick Heller was a special police officer who wanted to keep gun in his home. The district of columbia denied him when he applied for a license so he sued the district of Columbia saying this violated his second amendment. Verdict: 5-4 decision for Heller, majority given by Antonin Scalia.they argued that banning the registration for firearms within the household violates the second amendment. McDonald v. Chicago (2010)

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971 Words | 4 Pages

Chicago case was the defining moment for supporters of the second amendment. The case started when Otis McDonald tried to buy a handgun to protect his family from local hoodlums. The City of Chicago had a handgun ban, preventing McDonald from purchasing the gun. McDonald challenged the ban, and took the feud to court. The City of Chicago ruled that they should be able to instate their own laws about gun ownership (“Otis McDonald...

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983 Words | 4 Pages

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852 Words | 4 Pages

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1083 Words | 5 Pages

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823 Words | 4 Pages

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1246 Words | 5 Pages

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1828 Words | 8 Pages

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1912 Words | 8 Pages

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904 Words | 4 Pages

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1700 Words | 7 Pages

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