Justices take on 2nd Amendment

0 Comments | USA TODAY, November, 2007 | by Joan Biskupic

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court announced Tuesday it would decide the scope of the constitutional right "to keep and bear arms," accepting a momentous case that could change gun laws across the nation.

The dispute over a Washington, D.C., handgun ban, to be heard in the spring and likely decided by July, would mark the first time the court directly interprets the Second Amendment.

Tuesday's action immediately mobilized both sides of the debate over gun rights. The fractious question could become an issue in the 2008 presidential election.

"It's going to be the biggest case of the year," says Georgetown University law professor Randy Barnett. "This will be one of the rare instances that the court tells us what the meaning of the Constitution is, not...