Why is the US Supreme Court exploring tighter America gun regulations?

Answer 1

The US Supreme Court isn't "exploring tighter American gun regulations." The Supreme Court is not a legislative body; its purpose is to determine whether laws and regulations challenged in cases appealed to the Court conform to the US Constitution. The regulations, themselves, are made by Congress and state legislatures.

In its 2008 Term, the Supreme Court heard District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 US ___ (2008), a case that alleged Washington, DC, gun control laws were unconstitutional. The Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment of the Constitution protects Americans' right to bear arms as an individual liberty not specifically limited to the militia, and that the District of Columbia's requirement that guns within the home be unloaded, disassembled and locked were unconstitutional. This loosenedAmerican gun regulations in the District of Columbia, which is federal territory.

In Parker v. District of Columbia, 478 F.3d 370 (D.C. Cir. 2007), the Supreme Court denied certiorari on a US District Court case that overturned the Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975, a law banning residents of the District of Columbia from owning handguns, automatic firearms, and high-capacity semi-automatic firearms, as well as prohibiting possession of unregistered firearms. This also loosened gun regulations for the District of Columbia, and gutted the Brady Bill.

The decisions in Parker and in Heller did not apply to the states, however, because the Court in US v. Cruikshank, (1875), decided gun control laws were states rights' issues, and declined to impose federal regulations on the states.

Contrary to popular belief, the Bill of Rights is not completely applied to states. The Supreme Court has chosen to use a method called "selective incorporation" to apply individual clauses within the Bill of Rights (the first ten Amendments of the Constitution) via the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses, as appropriate cases arise. The Second Amendment was recently incorporated as a result of the US Supreme Court ruling in McDonald v. City of Chicago, 561 US ___ (2010), holding self-protection is a fundamental right, and ensuring Second Amendment protection will be respected and upheld by the states.