Heller is the decision that transformed the modern constitutional debate over gun regulation.
The case challenged D.C. handgun and storage restrictions
D.C. generally barred registration of handguns and required lawful firearms in the home to be kept inoperable, subject to limited exceptions.
The Court recognized an individual right
The Supreme Court held 5-4 that the Amendment’s operative clause protects an individual right and invalidated the challenged core restrictions.
Heller also said the right is not unlimited
The opinion identified longstanding categories of regulation as presumptively lawful and emphasized that the Second Amendment does not protect every weapon, person, place or manner of carrying.
Heller did not decide application to the states
Because D.C. is a federal district, the Court addressed state incorporation two years later in McDonald.
Where this fits in the larger timeline
This event is part of the History of Gun Laws in America series. Federal firearm law developed incrementally through constitutional amendments, taxation and commerce statutes, criminal prohibitions, background-check legislation and modern Second Amendment decisions.