WASHINGTON — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the Second Amendment right to bear arms cannot be held to restrict state gun control laws until the Supreme Court rules that the right applies to the states.
As a result, the ruling in National Rifle Association v. Chicago will likely give Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor some much-needed political cover against criticism of a similar Second Amendment ruling she joined in on the Second Circuit earlier this year, Maloney v. Cuomo . In that case, using the same reasoning, the Second Circuit panel upheld a New York ban on nunchakus, weapons made of two bars joined by a cord.
