SCOTUS Says You Can Own Guns

Thu, Jun 26, 2008 at 8:20:41 am PDT

Watch out for ideological whiplash; in the same week, the Supreme Court has banned the death penalty for child rapists, and ruled that individuals have the right to own guns.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday, for the first time in U.S. history, that individual Americans have the right to own guns for personal use, and struck down a strict gun control law in the nation’s capital.

The landmark 5-4 ruling marked the first time in nearly 70 years the high court has addressed whether the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects an individual right to keep and bear arms, rather than a right tied to service in a state militia.

Writing the court’s majority opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia said the Second Amendment protected an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.