The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday waded back into the contentious debate over the Second Amendment, agreeing to consider a Chicago case that will answer a question it left unanswered last year: whether the individual right to bear arms applies against state and local gun restrictions as well as federal.
The case, McDonald v. Chicago, could also intensify a debate within the Court and academia about the best way to apply or incorporate rights embodied in the U.S. Constitution to states. “This case is about a lot more than guns,” said Doug Kendall of the Constitutional Accountability Center, a liberal group that favors incorporation of rights based on the privileges or immunities clause of the 14th Amendment.
