The King of Gun Rights Cases – DC v. Heller

Understanding the Supreme Court's most important Second Amendment case.

DC v Heller is perhaps the most important United States Supreme Court case relating to gun rights and the Second Amendment. The case established the individual right to possess firearms for self-defense in the home. To get insights on the case, we speak with Prof. Joseph Blocher (Duke Law School) who was one of the lawyers involved with the case (2008).

The case arose when Dick Heller, a security guard, challenged the District of Columbia's handgun ban, which prohibited the registration of handguns and required all firearms in the home to be kept unloaded and disassembled or locked up.

In a 5-4 decision, the Court held that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that firearm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home. As Prof. Blocher explains, this was highly significant as U.S. courts (up until the 2008 decision) had only recognized the Second Amendment as relating to a right of state militias. The opinion of the court, drafted by Justice Scalia, held that the right to keep a gun is an individual right and further held that the District's ban and storage requirements violated the Second Amendment.

While the Supreme Court in DC v Heller held that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to possess firearms for self-defense in the home, the Court also noted that this right, like other constitutional rights, is not absolute. The Court identified several presumptively lawful regulatory measures that would not violate the Second Amendment. These include:

Bans on dangerous and unusual weapons;
Restrictions on gun ownership by felons and the mentally ill;
Laws forbidding carrying firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings; and
Laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of firearms.

Finally, Prof. Blocher points out that while DC v. Heller is still good law in the sense that the Court continues to site it in subsequent cases, the most recent case on the Second Amendment, NYSRPA v. Bruen may call in to question some of the tenets of Heller such as the exceptions outlined above.

Joseph Blocher is a professor of law at Duke Law School and a nationally recognized gun law expert. He is the co-director of the Duke Center for Firearms Law.

► For more legal explainers and interviews with the titans of law: http://www.talksonlaw.com
► This video was produced in collaboration with the Duke Center for Firearms Law. https://firearmslaw.duke.edu/


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00:00 What was at stake in D.C. v. Heller
01:31 An Individual Right, Not Just a Militia Right
04:35 What did the D.C. law prohibit?
06:25 Establishes the Right to "Keep" Arms
07:26 Exceptions from Heller
09:40 Heller Dissents
11:25 Is Heller still good law?