Gun Ruling Will Trigger Barrage of Lawsuits

Today's Supreme Court ruling upholding an individual's right to bear arms is unlikely to lead to sweeping changes across the nation, the New York Times reports. Gun laws in most cites and states—putting restrictions on felons and the mentally ill, for example, or banning guns in certain settings—appear to be safe. The biggest impact will be in cities with the most restrictive laws—DC, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and Detroit—where a wave of legal challenges no doubt awaits.

“There is likely to be quite a flood of litigation to try to flesh out precisely what regulations are to be permitted and which ones are not,” said one of today's winning lawyers. Justice Scalia said "dangerous and unusual" weapons can be restricted, but the court did not define what that meant. As a result, expect lawsuits over assault weapons and semiautomatics. (More US Supreme Court stories.)