The Second Amendment, like most of the other Bill of Rights was intended to limit the reach of the Federal Government. The First Amendment, for example, explicitly says that “Congress shall make no law...”
Over the last 100 years, the Supreme Court has said that certain of the restrictions on the Federal Government set forth in the Bill of Rights apply to the states, via the 14th Amendment, which is said to “incorporate” certain of the Bill of Right restrictions on the states.
One example - although the First Amendment says that Congress shall not establish a religion, it was understood that this did not apply to the states and until the early 1800’s some states had established religions.
The District of Columbia is a Federal jurisdiction, over which Congress exercises all power, although some functions have been delegated to the elected DC government in recent years. There’s no question, therefore, that the restrictions of the Bill of Rights apply to DC. No need to decide whether the 14th Amendment requires incorporating the 2nd Amendment.
Heller is silent on whether the 2nd Amendment should be incorporated via the 14th amendment—and hence binding on the states. My belief is that the 2nd Amendment establishes an essential right and hence its restrictions should apply to the states, but that was not before the Supreme Court in the Heller case and has not yet been decided.
I don’t believe the argument that the 2nd Amendment does not explicitly state that it applies only to Congress and the Federal Government and hence it must be understood as applying to both the states and Federal government, is going to be accepted.
Jack
If the gun grabbers were not so short-sighted, they would cede ground to avoid court decisions that could be devastating to their position.
Heller was the result of D.C.'s recalcitrance and Chicago will force the issue on incorporation.
*Hey, you ever try to get blood stains out of white sheets?