Wonder how many of you have actually read the Heller decision. In Heller, Scalia went to great pains to limit the scope of the courts ruling. The court emphasized that the need for self-defense is “most acute” in the home, leaving open the possibility for a different standard in public. It also characterized handguns as the “quintessential self-defense weapon,” suggesting other guns might be regulated differently. Moreover, Scalia cautioned that “nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt” on certain “presumptively lawful regulatory measures.” He listed a few, including prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, and in “sensitive places.” Even the court’s relatively expansive list, Scalia explained, did “not purport to be exhaustive.” In McDonald, the court repeated Heller’s explicit limitations.
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