US Supreme Court agrees to review handgun ban

WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court has agreed for the first time in 70 years to review the right to own guns, as it considers whether the city of Washington can ban private handguns, a court spokeswoman said.

The high court agreed to review an appeal by the city insisting its three-decade ban on handguns is constitutional, said court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg on Tuesday.

Arguments are expected between February and April with a ruling at the end of June, just a few months before the November 2008 presidential election.

The US capital, plagued by chronic violence in many of its poorest neighbourhoods, took the case to the nine Supreme Court judges seeking to maintain the prohibition on individuals owning handguns.

Washington, which is also home to the president and the government, has interpreted the constitution's disputed second amendment, the right to bear arms, to mean that there is a collective right for those who are part of a police force or security force to bear arms.

Since 1976 it has banned residents from carrying handguns, but they are allowed to keep a rifle or hunting gun in their homes, providing it is under lock and not loaded. The ban remains in place until the US high court issues a ruling in the case.

For millions of Americans however, and especially the powerful gun lobby represented by the National Rifle Association, the second amendment guarantees the right of every American citizen to own any gun, with few limits.

The amendment declares that, "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."