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For Immediate Release
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Brady President Paul Helmke on Supreme Court Taking Gun Case

WASHINGTON

Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, issued the following statement:

"It's
not surprising that the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to consider
whether its new definition of the Second Amendment applies to states
and localities as well as federal enclaves - the so-called
'incorporation issue' - in the City of Chicago case. Since the day
the Supreme Court first held that individuals have a right to guns in
the home for self-defense in District of Columbia v. Heller a year ago, we expected that the Court's next step would be to resolve this issue.

"The
Chicago case is unlikely to have much practical impact on most gun laws
regardless of how the Court rules. Even if the Court were to hold the
Second Amendment applicable to states and localities, such a ruling is
unlikely to change the crucial holding by the Supreme Court in Heller
that a wide range of reasonable gun laws are presumptively
constitutional, and that the Second Amendment right is narrowly limited
to guns in the home for self-defense. Since the Heller
decision, the gun lobby and criminals have brought at least 170
challenges to gun laws or to block criminal gun prosecutions. With only
a handful of exceptions, those challenges have failed."

Brady United formerly known as The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and its legislative and grassroots affiliate, the Brady Campaign and its dedicated network of Million Mom March Chapters, is the nation's largest, non-partisan, grassroots organization leading the fight to prevent gun violence. We are devoted to creating an America free from gun violence, where all Americans are safe at home, at school, at work, and in our communities.