© Lucy Nicholson / ReutersA stunning reversal by the Supreme Court.
The US Supreme Court tossed out a Massachusetts court ruling which argued that stun guns were not covered under the Second Amendment of the US Constitution. The top court's Monday decision throws the case back to Massachusetts, giving the lower court another chance to rule,
according to the Associated Press.
The justices, with no apparent dissent,
issued an unsigned opinion in favor of Jamie Caetano, who was convicted for violating an anti-stun gun law. Caetano was arrested for possession of a stun gun, which she said she kept in her purse
for self-defense because of an abusive former boyfriend.Massachusetts is one of a handful of states prohibiting the possession of stun guns. The state Supreme Court's ruling in Caetano's case in March of 2015 stated that the US Congress would not have envisioned a weapon like a stun gun in 1789, when it passed the Constitution's Second Amendment protecting the right to bear arms,
according to Reuters. Caetano's lawyers had argued in court that
stun guns should be considered "arms" under the Second Amendment and that the Massachusetts law banning them went too far.
In their own opinion, the Supreme Court justices said "the explanation the Massachusetts court offered for upholding the law
contradicts this court's precedent," according to AP. The justices were referring to a 2008 Supreme Court ruling in the District of Columbia v. Heller case, which struck down Washington, DC's handgun ban and
affirmed the Constitution's recognition of an individual's right to own a gun, at least for self-defense at home.
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