The US Supreme Court said today it would decide whether handguns can be banned in Washington, DC in a case that could produce its first ruling in nearly 70 years on the right to bear arms.
The nation's highest court agreed to hear an appeal by the District of Columbia arguing that the 31-year-old law banning private possession of handguns in the nation's capital should be upheld as constitutional.
The justices said they would review a precedent-setting ruling by a US appeals court that broadly interpreted an individual's constitutional right to bear arms under the Second Amendment and struck down Washington's law for violating those rights.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments most likely in March, with a ruling expected by the end of June.
The decision could become an issue in the 2008 elections.
The head of the politically powerful National Rifle Association, which opposes gun-control laws, denounced what it called Washington, DC's "unconstitutional gun ban."
The city's lawyers argued that the right to bear arms does not apply to individuals, but to those who are part of a state-regulated militia, like the National Guard.
But the appeals court sided with a position also backed by the Bush administration and the NRA - that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to keep and carry arms.