The suit seeks a ruling that both provisions violate the constitution's Second Amendment right to bear arms and the 14th Amendment right to equal protection under the laws as well as injunctions stopping enforcement.
To decide the case, the justices had to rule directly on the meaning of the Second Amendment, a provision with only 27 words: A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
Republican Senator Orrin Hatch said on Tuesday that he was "a strong supporter of the second amendment" - referring to a clause in the US Constitution on the right to bear arms.
He insisted that a reasonable ban on semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines, as well as strengthening background checks, presented no threat to the constitutional right to bear arms.
CNN: 'Enough is enough,' Feinstein says in proposing new gun ban
But today, after decades of effort by gun rights activists, the court declared the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right aimed, at the very least, at citizens protecting home and hearth.
We bear a duty to make the right decisions for our children and grandchildren and for our God-given Earth.
Your opinion that a child needs a mother and a father and therefore single people and gay people should be deprived of the right to bear and raise children is not supported by the research that shows children raised by gay and single parents do not suffer harm as a result.
To non-Americans, oblivious to the constitutional guarantee of the right of the people to keep and bear arms, the connection between guns and tragedy seems obvious.
Supporters of gun control argue that the constitutional right to bear arms can be limited, for example, by the existing ban on private citizens possessing grenade launchers and other military weaponry.
CNN: Obama still backs new gun ban; top senator less certain
Other witnesses and senators who support tougher regulations countered that the constitutional right to bear arms can be limited, for example, by the existing ban on private citizens possessing grenade launchers and other military weaponry.
Does the Second Amendment right to bear arms for self-defense extend outside the doorway of our homes?
FORBES: Liberal Courts Still Gunning Against Second Amendment Rights
Proposals for stricter gun laws, in particular, seem likely to fall foul of Americans' constitutional right to bear arms, and the gun lobby's ferocious defence of it.
ECONOMIST: America is plunged into mourning and political acrimony
On the other side of the issue, the National Rifle Association, the powerful lobbying group for gun owners, views any effort to limit access to guns as an infringement on the Second Amendment right to bear arms and has pledged to fight attempts by Congress to enact new restrictions.
They also have contingency plans that will be brought to bear when the time is right.
Opponents including the NRA say such a ban violates the constitutional right to bear arms, while Feinstein and other supporters that include law enforcement groups note the previous ban survived several legal challenges.
"My purpose was to make a statement in support of the Second Amendment, " she said before the vote, referring to the clause in the US Constitution that mentions the right of citizens "to keep and bear arms".
"In essence, although suspects interviewed pursuant to the program are told, through the Miranda warnings, that they have the right to remain silent, the preamble suggests that invoking that right will bear adverse, and irrevocable, consequences, " the court wrote.
Essentially, the second-amendment right to bear arms clashes with employers' rights to keep the workplace safe.
And for the rest of the world to suggest that how we manage the polar bear is not right is a slap in the face - but the decision that was made today shows we are doing the right thing.
The case for expecting the international shippers themselves to bear the risks of piracy rests not only on judgments about whether they have a right to expect taxpayer help.
Obama said Wednesday he believes the Second Amendment does guarantee individuals the right to bear arms.
CNN: Obama: Proposals to address gun violence due by January
They believe we have the right to bear arms, and they believe with rights come responsibilities.
And does the right to bear arms mean that there are no restrictions?
Some have interpreted the Second Amendment's affirmation of the right to bear arms as a barrier to reasonable regulation.
But opponents of the bill have argued it would violate the US Constitution's guarantee of the right to bear arms.
BBC: Father of slain Newtown child weeps at Senate gun hearing
Guns and the right to bear arms are part of American culture.
The upstate counties passing the nonbinding resolutions say the law infringes on the right to bear arms and threatens to make criminals of law-abiding residents.
They concluded that a secret army claiming the right to bear arms until Ireland was reunited had given up its weapons without securing its goal.
Unlike abortion, the Constitution actually specifies the right to bear arms.
Heller became the plaintiff in the test case, and in 2008 the Supreme Court ruled in his favor, holding that the Second Amendment does confer on individuals the right to bear arms.
应用推荐