Justices' decision triggers questions

"Just as the 1st Amendment does not protect one's ability to falsely shout 'Fire!' in a crowded theater, the 2nd Amendment does not protect one's ability to stroll down Rodeo Drive with a bazooka," said Winkler, who had filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the District of Columbia's handgun ban. "A few extreme gun-control laws will be invalidated, but the vast majority of restrictions will survive."

The dissenting justices did not sound as confident, however. Justices Breyer and John Paul Stevens said the court's decision could have a broad effect. It "threatens to throw into doubt the constitutionality of gun laws throughout the United States," Breyer wrote.

Future lawsuits

The justices also barely touched on a threshold issue for future lawsuits.

The decision in District of Columbia vs. Heller did not say the 2nd Amendment applies to states and localities. Washington, D.C., is not a state.

Until the early 20th century, the Bill of Rights was assumed to limit only the federal government, not the states; now the presumption is that the Constitution protects Americans against the government at all levels -- federal, state and local. But the Supreme Court has not said the 2nd Amendment applies to the states.

"That's the next case to come up, but I think it's a foregone conclusion" that the 2nd Amendment will extend to state and local laws, said Washington lawyer Alan Morrison, who wrote the District of Columbia's opening brief defending its law when he was a city attorney.

In the wake of Thursday's ruling, Morrison said: "The bottom line is, it looks like a full-employment decision for lots of gun lawyers and state, federal and municipal lawyers."

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david.savage@latimes.com