The District of Columbia on Wednesday filed its final brief in defense of its ban on handguns before it goes before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The gun-control case has drawn attention from around the globe, and outside groups have filed more than 60 friend-of-the-court briefs, the fourth-highest number for a Supreme Court case, said D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty. In a rare decision that also demonstrates the interest in the case, the high court will release an audiotape of the arguments on the morning of the case, March 18. The tape will then be aired on C-SPAN at 11:30 a.m., District officials said.
The District’s brief mostly restates previous arguments, but it alsopicks up on points made by an unexpected ally, President Bush, said acting Attorney General Peter Nickles. In January, the U.S. solicitor general filed a brief arguing that the lower court used the wrong standards in declaring the handgun ban unconstitutional.
The 30-page brief includes three basic arguments: The District has the right to make its own laws; the city’s gun-control laws are reasonable and focus only on handguns; and the Second Amendment protects the right of the people to bear arms in service of militias, but doesn’t guarantee an individual with no connection to militias the right to own weapons.
“If Virginia and Baltimore have their own gun regulations that they want to adopt, so should the District of Columbia,” said Walter Dellinger, a former U.S. solicitor general who will argue the case for the city.
The case will be the court’s first consideration of the meaning of the Second Amendment in nearly 70 years.
D.C.’s gun law
» Residents who owned handguns before 1976 can keep registered handguns at home.
» Police officers can register personal handguns.
» Residents can keep registered rifles and shotguns.
» All registered guns must have a lock or be disassembled at home.
» Semiautomatic rifles are not permitted.
