McDonald v. Chicago: Second Amendment Applies to State and Local Governments

In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in McDonald v. City of Chicago that the right to keep and bear arms is incorporated by the Fourteenth Amendment and enforceable against state and local governments.

Otis McDonald, a 76-year-old retired maintenance engineer in Chicago, wanted to purchase a handgun for home defense but was blocked by Chicago's 1982 citywide handgun ban. The Court held that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment extends the Second Amendment's protections to the states.

This decision meant that state and local gun control laws — not just federal ones — could be challenged under the Second Amendment, opening the door for legal challenges to restrictive firearms laws across the country.