In a historic ruling, the Supreme Court has struck down a handgun ban in Washington, DC. On Thursday, justices ruled the Second Amendment enshrines the constitutional right of an individual to own and keep a loaded handgun at home for purposes of self-defense. The five-to-four decision overturns the thirty-two-year-old ban on handguns in the nation’s capital. It’s the Court’s most significant ruling on the Second Amendment in nearly seventy years. Washington, DC Mayor Adrian Fenty criticized the ruling but said it will be respected.

Washington, DC Mayor Adrian Fenty: “As mayor, although I am disappointed in the Court’s ruling and believe, as I said for the past year, that more handguns in the District of Columbia will only lead to more handgun violence, it is important to both respect the Court’s authority and then to act quickly. And today I have already directed the Metropolitan Police Department to implement an orderly process for allowing citizens to register handguns for lawful possession in their homes.”