The landmark Second Amendment Supreme Court case, District of Columbia v Dick Anthony Heller, has been followed up at the Circuit Court level in at least three separate cases. The 2nd and 7th Circuits have ruled that Heller does not apply to the states. The 9th Circuit subsequently ruled the Second Amendment DOES apply to the states, but that ruling is being held pending an en banc hearing by the 9th Circuit Court, with oral arguments scheduled for September 21st.
The day the Heller decision was announced, a challenge to Chicago’s handgun ban was filed as McDonald v City of Chicago. Sponsors of the McDonald case are the Second Amendment Foundation and the Illinois State Rifle & Pistol Association. The following day the NRA filed a similar case in the same court. The cases have since been combined. The 7th Circuit Court ruled against McDonald.
Thirty-three states’ Attorneys General have filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court asking them to address the issue of incorporation of the Second Amendment to the states, specifically citing the McDonald case. In a separate brief, California Attorney General Jerry Brown also asked the Supreme Court to incorporate the Second Amendment to the states.
The Supreme Court is currently on summer recess. It will formally convene its next session in October. During the recess, and early in the session, the Court will decide which cases it will hear in the coming year. This is the time to submit a brief, polite letter to the Court asking them to grant certiorari (i.e. agree to hear) the case Otis McDonald et al v City of Chicago.
Letters should be sent to the Public Information Officer, Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, DC 20543.