Does the Second Amendment apply outside the home?

On March 2, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments addressing whether the Second Amendment applies outside of jurisdictions controlled by the federal government. The court will almost certainly say that it does, and soon it may consider a question that should be equally easy to answer: whether the Second Amendment applies outside of the home.

In 2008, the first time the Supreme Court explicitly declared that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to “keep and bear arms,” it ruled that the District of Columbia’s handgun ban violated that right. Since the Chicago handgun ban at issue in the case the Court heard on March 2 is virtually identical, it will be overturned if the Court concludes that the Second Amendment binds states and cities as well as the federal government. Because the Court has ruled that almost all of the other guarantees in the Bill of Rights apply to the states by way of the 14th Amendment, it would be very strange if the fundamental right to armed self-defense did not make the cut.

Assuming the Court strikes down Chicago’s handgun ban, what other forms of gun control could be vulnerable? Since the Second Amendment protects the right to “bear” arms as well as the right to “keep” them, restrictions on carrying guns in public are a ripe target.

Forty-one states either do not require a permit to carry a handgun or issues one to anyone who satisfies a few objective criteria, which generally include firearms training and lack of a criminal record. Seven states let local officials decide whether to issue permits, and Illinois, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C., do not allow even that option.-[source]