Which case extended the Second Amendment's individual right to bear arms to the states through incorporation?

Which case extended the Second Amendment's individual right to bear arms to the states through incorporation?

• A. McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010)
• B. Heller v. District of Columbia (2008)
• C. Kelo v. City of New London (2005)
• D. Boerne v. Flores (1997)

Answer: (A)

The main idea is incorporation: applying the Second Amendment to limit state and local government actions through the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. Heller confirmed an individual right to possess firearms for self-defense, but it was about federal power and the District of Columbia, not the states. McDonald v. City of Chicago used incorporation to bring the Second Amendment to bear on state and local governments, holding that the right is fundamental and fully applicable to the states. In doing so, it struck down Chicago’s handgun ban as unconstitutional, extending the protections of the Second Amendment beyond the federal realm. The other cases aren’t about this process. Kelo deals with eminent domain and taking property, not gun rights. Boerne v. Flores concerns the scope of Congress’s enforcement power under the Fourteenth Amendment, not the incorporation of the Second Amendment.

The main idea is incorporation: applying the Second Amendment to limit state and local government actions through the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. Heller confirmed an individual right to possess firearms for self-defense, but it was about federal power and the District of Columbia, not the states. McDonald v. City of Chicago used incorporation to bring the Second Amendment to bear on state and local governments, holding that the right is fundamental and fully applicable to the states. In doing so, it struck down Chicago’s handgun ban as unconstitutional, extending the protections of the Second Amendment beyond the federal realm.

The other cases aren’t about this process. Kelo deals with eminent domain and taking property, not gun rights. Boerne v. Flores concerns the scope of Congress’s enforcement power under the Fourteenth Amendment, not the incorporation of the Second Amendment.