United States | Handgun bans

Whose right to bear arms?

The Supreme Court hears a crucial case

|washington, dc

GUN laws are a matter of life and death, reckoned both groups of protesters outside the Supreme Court on March 18th. One side argued that sensible curbs on gun ownership save lives. The other side retorted that if you outlaw guns, only criminals will carry them. Plus the police, of course, but gun-lovers don't find that terribly reassuring. “When seconds count, the police are only minutes away,” read one placard.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Whose right to bear arms?”

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From the March 22nd 2008 edition

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