The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Second Amendment rights apply to cities and states as well as federal law, and can be invoked to challenge local restrictions on gun ownership. The vote in McDonald v. Chicago was 5-4, with Justice Kennedy joining the Court’s conservative wing. Justice Alito penned the majority opinion, which begins:
Two years ago, in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U. S. ___ (2008), we held that the Second Amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self-defense, and we struck down a District of Columbia law that banned the possession of handguns in the home. The city of Chicago (City) and the village of Oak Park, a Chicago suburb, have laws that are similar to the District of Columbia’s, but Chicago and Oak Park argue that their laws are constitutional because the Second Amendment has no application to the States. We have previously held that most of the provisions of the Bill of Rights apply with full force to both the Federal Government and the States. Applying the standard that is well established in our case law, we hold that the Second Amendment right is fully applicable to the States.
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