Understanding the Court System, Research Paper Example

In 2010, in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U. S. the Court held that the Second Amendment protects the right to hold and bear arms for the intention of self-defense and took down a District of Columbia law that banned the possession of handguns in the home.  In Chicago and surrounding suburbs the citywide ban of 1982 prohibited the possession of handguns among private citizens.  Otis McDonald and three other residents argued that Chicago’s handgun ban and firearms laws prohibit them from keeping handguns in their homes for self-defense so they argued that those laws violated the 2nd and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution. At the trial court, the city of Chicago and Oak Park argued that their laws are constitutional because the 2^nd Amendment carries no function to the State, the District Court rejected the petitioners argument and entered judgement in favor of the city of Chicago.  The decision was appealed to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, the court did not consider the question whether the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause integrates the 2nd Amendment right to hold and bear arms. The court ruled in favor of the Chicago gun ban but declined to guess how the 2nd Amendment might fare under this selective incorporation, the court granted certiorari to higher court to make the decision. (McDonald v. Chicago, 2010)

The Supreme Court ruled that the City of Chicago was in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment due process clause that incorporates the Second Amendment rights as recognized in Heller. The Second Amendment protects the rights to keep and bear arms and that applies not only to the federal gov., but as well as to the state and local governing bodies. The Court overruled earlier decisions holding that particular Bill of Rights affirmatives or fixes did not assign to the States. Article IV does prohibit discrimination and requires States to recognize all rights. The Court held that Bill of Rights protections must “all … be enforced against the States under the 14^th Amendment applying to the same rules that protect those personal rights againstinvasion.”  The Court also motioned the petitioners’ primary submission that this right is among the privileges or immunities of  citizens of the United States.  Under the Court’s narrow reading, the Privileges or Immunities Clause defends such stuff as a right”.  Such rights are endorsed by the Clause. (McDonald v. Chicago, 2010)

After US Supreme Court reversed the handgun ban due to U.S. Constitution and the rights given to the citizens to bear arms the following socio-economic consequences are considered in this dissenting portion.  Crime, shootings, and homicide by firearms are a serious issue nowadays in the United States due to gun control legislations are slacking off.  Measures for gun control must be implemented across the USA through new and stricter legislations.  Mark Gius conducted a statistical study on the effect of gun ownership on homicide rate he concludes “As can be shown from the results, gun ownership rates have a statistically great effect on the homicide ratios at the 10% significant level.” (Gius, M., 2009).  Guns are dangerous, particularly in the hands of criminals, in states with high rates of violent crime, gun-related fatalities seem to be higher.  Also, in his comprehensive study, Duggan, M., (2001) finds that gun ownership rates are strongly linked to homicide rates.  These homicides include those that occur during a domestic dispute. Guns allowed in the home increase the chances of homicide or a gun fatality. According to Price a situation can become deadlier with guns because domestic assaults including guns are twelve times more likely to have a deadly outcome. She also states that two thirds of domestic violence murders involve guns. (Price, M. S. 2014).

Do guns invite to violence? Does poverty and unemployment increase homicide? Many people keep asking these and more questions about the open access to guns and the illegal introduction of guns into the United States. (Altheimer, I. & Boswell, M., 2012).  According to Kwon, I., & Baack, D. (2005), in 2000, almost 30,000 persons died from firearm injuries in the United States, more than the number of deaths from H.I.V., alcohol poisoning, or drug usage.  Their study reveals that comprehensive gun control legislation pretty much lowers the rate of gun-related causalities between one to almost six per 100,000 individuals in those states that carry the most intense gun related laws.  According to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence website, in 2011, guns took the lives of over 30 thousand Americans in murders, suicides as well as unintentional shootings.

The court based their decision on the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause which incorporates the Second Amendment. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the petitioners, whom are protected by their Constitutional rights. Per this clause, the Second Amendment nullified Chicago’s gun ban law, because it violated Constitutional rights.Furthermore, the Due Process clause incorporates some personal rights that avoid state infringement.  (McDonald v. Chicago, 2010)

References

Altheimer, I. & Boswell, M. (2012). Reassessing the association between gun availability and  homicide at the corss-national level. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 37(4), 682-704.     doi:10.1007/s12103-011-9147-x

McDonald v. Chicago, 130 S. Ct. 3020 (2010). Retrieved from http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=08-1521

Kwon, I., & Baack, D. (2005) The Effectiveness of Legislation Controlling Gun Usage. A Holistic measure of Gun Control Legislation. American Journal of Economics & Sociology. 64 (2), 533-547. doi:10.1111/j.1536-7150.2005.00378.x.

Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence – Gun Law Information Experts. (2012, November 16). Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence RSS. Retrieved from http://smartgunlaws.org/gun-deaths-and-injuries-statistics/