The U.S. Supreme Court will almost certainly extend the scope of the Second Amendment right to bear arms to limit state and federal regulation of firearms, based on oral arguments in McDonald v. City of Chicago on Tuesday.
But comments from the justices made it clear they want to do it the old-fashioned way — through the 14th Amendment’s due process clause, rather than via the same amendment’s “privileges or immunities” clause, which had been advanced as a better way to bolster a range of rights including economic rights. Several justices also indicated that, as with other individual rights, states and cities will be able to impose some regulations on firearms.
