High Court To Hear Handgun Case

Tuesday, November 20th 2007, 5:47 pm

By: News On 6

SUPREME COURT (AP) -- Activists on both sides of the gun control debate are weighing in on a decision Tuesday by the Supreme Court to review the District of Columbia's 31-year-old handgun ban.

A top National Rifle Association official says the Second Amendment prevents lines being drawn between "individuals and their firearms."

But the president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence says the Constitution doesn't prevent communities from having laws to protect public safety.

The case may be the most significant gun rights case before the court in some 70 years.

A federal appeals court struck down the ban in March. The justices will hear arguments in the case early next year.

The decision to hear the case was widely expected, after both the city and the man who challenged the ban asked the court for a review.