POST-HELLER LITIGATION SUMMARY

[billh58]

Since Heller and McDonald, courts have been inundated with claims that various federal, state, and local laws
regulating firearms violate the Second Amendment. These claims have been asserted in both civil lawsuits and
criminal prosecutions—and the vast majority of them have failed. Altogether, in the more than 1,300 state and
federal court decisions tracked by Giffords Law Center since Heller, courts have rejected the Second
Amendment challenges nearly 93% of the time.

As discussed below, courts have upheld numerous commonsense gun laws against Second Amendment
challenges, including laws:

• Requiring “good cause” for the issuance of a permit to carry a concealed firearm;

• Prohibiting the possession of machine guns, assault weapons, and large capacity ammunition
magazines;

• Requiring that firearms be stored in a locked container or other secure manner when not in the
possession of the owner;

• Forbidding gun possession by dangerous persons including those convicted of felonies and
domestic violence crimes, and those who have been involuntarily committed to mental
institutions;

• Requiring the registration of all firearms;

• Forbidding persons under 21 years old from possessing firearms or carrying guns in public;

• Regulating firing ranges, including zoning, construction, and operation requirements;

• Requiring that handguns sold within a state meet certain safety requirements;

• Imposing fees on the commercial sale of handguns to fund firearm safety regulations; and,

• Requiring a waiting period before completing a firearm sale.

By contrast, courts have struck down gun laws in a relatively small number of cases, and even then, they have
been careful to note that the Second Amendment does not prohibit most laws designed to reduce gun violence.

Moreover, the Supreme Court has declined to review at least 88 Second Amendment cases since Heller, leaving
lower court decisions upholding many reasonable gun laws undisturbed.

http://smartgunlaws.org/gun-deaths-and-injuries-statistics/ (click on "Gun Laws/Second Amendment" for PDF file)

Right-wing Second Amendment absolutists and NRA apologists would have us believe that the strict regulation of deadly weapons is unconstitutional, but the US Court system says otherwise. Common sense gun control regulations are being enacted all across this country, and we are making needed changes in an effort to reduce the needless deaths and injuries due to the gun violence epidemic in this country.