Constitutional Law Keyed to Chemerinsky
District of Columbia v. Heller
InstructorMatthew Steinberg
CaseCast™ – "What you need to know"
Facts
The District of Columbia prohibits the possession of handguns, and no person may carry a handgun without a license. However, the Chief of Police may issue licenses for 1-year periods. In addition, residents are required to keep such firearms “unloaded and dissembled or bound by a trigger lock or similar device” unless they are located in a place of business or are being used for a lawful recreational activity. Respondent Dick Heller is a special police officer authorized to carry a handgun while on duty, and applied for a registration for a handgun he wanted to keep at home. The district denied such a registration. He filed suit in the Federal District Court of the District of Columbia seeking to enjoin the city from enforcing the bar on the registration of handguns, the licensing requirement insofar as it violated the Second Amendment.
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