Handgun ban could lead to key ruling

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A case challenging the ban on private handgun ownership in the U.S. capital could lead to the first ruling by the Supreme Court since 1939 on the rights of Americans to bear arms.

Officials from the District of Columbia government this week asked the high court to agree the city's 31-year-old law banning private possession of handguns is constitutional.

Supporters and opponents of the law said the case could have far-reaching legal and political importance in affecting the nation's gun laws.

D.C. officials said a U.S. appeals court was wrong in its precedent-setting ruling in March that broadly interpreted an individual's constitutional right under the Second Amendment to bear arms, and that concluded the law violated those rights.

The Second Amendment says, "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

City lawyers have argued the amendment guarantees the right to bear arms only for members of a militia, like today's National Guard, and not for individuals.

But the appeals court adopted the position that the Bush administration has advocated previously -- that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to keep and bear arms.

"This has the potential to be the most significant ruling ever on the Second Amendment," said Paul Helmke, president of Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. He said the case also could be significant in the political debate leading up to next year's elections.