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D.C. lawyers file last brief in handgun ban

Nation awaits D.C. handgun ruling

By Gary Emerling
March 17, 2008

Police patrolled a plaza in Southeast on Tuesday. The effectiveness of D.C. gun laws, the most stringent in the nation, has been disputed for years, and in the early 1990s, warring gangs and a crack cocaine surge earned the city its "murder capital" nickname.

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The District of Columbia's fight to preserve its nearly 32-year-old ban on handguns before the U.S. Supreme Court has drawn nationwide attention as a bellwether vote on the limits of gun control.

"Regardless of who wins and loses, the crucial thing is really going to be what [the justices] are going to say about the Second Amendment," said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Combat Gun Violence. "It will set the ground rules for analyzing almost every gun law in the country for years to come."

Attorneys for the city and Dick Anthony Heller — a special police officer whose failed effort to register a handgun in 2002 helped spur the legal battle — will argue their cases before the justices on Tuesday.

Both sides in the case, along with city officials, federal lawmakers and the White House, say the court's decision places much at stake.

"It'll be an issue as important as abortion, gay marriage — these flash points that so divide us in the United States," said interim D.C. Attorney General Peter J. Nickles, who has led the city's efforts to keep its gun ban.

Widespread impact

The case will mark the first time in about 70 years that the Supreme Court has examined the Second Amendment, which states: "A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

The rarity of the case and the potential consequences of the ruling account for the widespread attention it has received: Nearly 70 amicus briefs have been filed on behalf of more than 320 members of Congress, 36 states and other interested parties on both sides of the case.

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