Washington, D.C. - Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Center and Brady
Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, issued the following statement:

“We can expect two things as a result of today's decision by the U.S.
Supreme Court in McDonald v. Chicago: the gun lobby and gun criminals
will use it to try to strike down gun laws, and those legal challenges
will continue to fail.

“We are pleased that the Court reaffirmed its language in District of
Columbia v. Heller that the Second Amendment individual right to possess
guns in the home for self-defense does not prevent our elected
representatives from enacting common-sense gun laws to protect our
communities from gun violence. We are reassured that the Court has
rejected, once again, the gun lobby argument that its ‘any gun, for
anybody, anywhere’ agenda is protected by the Constitution. The Court
again recognized that the Second Amendment allows for reasonable
restrictions on firearms, including who can have them and under what
conditions, where they can be taken, and what types of firearms are
available.

“Chicago can amend its gun laws to comply with this ruling while
continuing to have strong, comprehensive and Constitutional gun laws,
just as Washington D.C. has done. After the Heller decision, at least
240 legal challenges have been brought to existing gun laws, nearly all
of which have been summarily dismissed. There is nothing in today’s
decision that should prevent any state or local government from
successfully defending, maintaining, or passing, sensible, strong gun
laws.”