Supreme Court Issues Significant Gun Rights Ruling

On June 28, 2010, in a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution applies against the States. The case, McDonald v. Chicago, involved a challenge to Chicago's handgun ban. In ruling against the city, the Supreme Court determined that the Second Amendment applies not only against the federal government, as its recent decision in Heller explained, but that it also applies against States and their political subdivisions-like cities. Today's ruling effectively means that, in addition to state constitutional provisions, there is now a federal constitutional right to bear arms that cannot be infringed by state and local governments, although the scope of this new right will have to await subsequent court decisions.

The ruling is significant because it comes in the midst of a growing debate about gun rights and employers' property rights. This is particularly true in Indiana, where a new law takes effect on July 1, 2010, that prevents employers from prohibiting employees from bringing guns onto the employer's property, provided the guns are kept out of sight in the employees' locked vehicles. The Supreme Court's ruling will, in all likelihood, provide further momentum to the gun rights movement, emboldening proponents to seek additional protections under state law. It also means that employers will be forced to explain their gun policies in the context of both state and federal constitutional law. In sum, today's decision and the Indiana gun law taking effect July 1^st are, in all likelihood, only the opening arguments in a long debate over the scope of employers' property rights and individuals' right to bear arms.