Poll: Americans Agree with Supreme Court on Gun Rights

The American public overwhelmingly agrees with the U.S. Supreme Court's interpretation of the Second Amendment, a new poll from Gallup finds.

The poll, released on June 26th, finds that 73% of Americans believe the Second Amendment guarantees the individual right to bear arms. 20% said it guaranteed a right only to state militias, while 7% stated that they had no opinion on the matter.

Another gun rights-related poll by Gallup, released last October, found that the American public also sides with the court on complete handgun bans. That poll found that 68% of Americans would oppose a law that would ban possession of a handgun except for police, while only 30% would support one.

On June 26, 2008, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of Dick Anthony Heller in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller. The majority opinion found that the Second Amendment applies to the individual right to bear arms and that a complete ban of handguns is unconstitutional. The court struck down the Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975, which banned the possession of handguns by D.C. residents.