WASHINGTON - March 17, 2008 - The U.S. Supreme Court will this week step into a politically explosive case over gun rights that could influence some voters in the forthcoming general election.

For the first time in 70 years, the justices will hear a case testing whether individuals have the right to own firearms under the U.S. Constitution. The case could produce a historic ruling that would mobilize activists on both sides of the gun rights debate, and could influence the outcome of the November election.

At issue in the case is the Constitution's Second Amendment, which includes language about gun rights. It says "a well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." The case tests whether those words guarantee the right of individual citizens to bear arms, or only the collective right to bear arms in the National Guard or other state militia.

The justices must rule on a Washington DC law, passed in 1976, making it a crime to have any firearm that is ready to fire - either a handgun or a loaded rifle or shotgun. It is among the strictest gun control laws in the U.S. Several city residents have challenged the law. The justices will review a federal appeals court ruling that struck down the law and broadly interpreted the right of individuals to bear arms.

Dave Kopel, a gun rights activist who wrote a brief in the case on behalf of some police organizations, argues "guns save lives" because they allow citizens to defend themselves and deter burglars. He says U.S. burglars avoid breaking into occupied homes because they fear being shot: only 13 per cent of U.S. burglaries take place while the victims are home, compared with 59 per cent in the UK.

But gun rights opponents say firearms boost the crime rate and that the DC ban is needed to protect residents. "The world that spawned the second amendment is . . . very different from the world today," said John Payton, who filed a brief in the case for the NAACP legal defense fund, the civil rights organization. He says African-Americans are disproportionately hurt by guns.

Ed. Note: Remember, your right to defend your own life, which includes your right to own and carry firearms, is a God-given right over which the government has no authority.  Regardless of the upcoming Supreme Court ruling, you will always have the right to own and carry firearms for defense of self, family, and country.