The Supreme Court, through its 2008 DC v. Heller decision and its recent McDonald v. Chicago decision, has held that the Second Amendment to the Constitution confers an individual right of self-defense by firearms — and that this right constrains federal, state and local regulatory authority over the ownership and use of guns. However, as the court's ruling in both of these cases stresses, these Second Amendment rights are not in any way more basic than others in the... (GunPolicy.org)