Editorial: Gun ban ruling dampens debate

CHICAGO, June 27 (UPI) -- Gun ownership may be an individual right, but the U.S. Supreme Court's decision left room for local governments to exert control, a Chicago newspaper said.

The majority opinion in Thursday's 5-4 decision overturning a Washington, D.C., handgun possession ban definitively said the right to bear arms was an individual right, but it wasn't absolute, a Chicago Tribune editorial said Friday.

While local governments and law enforcement agencies may be curtailed in how they can control firearms, they are not banned completely from protecting their citizens against guns, the Tribune said.

"The majority left room for state and local governments to restrict the carrying of concealed weapons in public, to prohibit weapons in 'sensitive places such as schools and government buildings,' and to regulate the sale of firearms," the editorial said. Justice Antonin Scalia's opinion also allows "dangerous and unusual weapons" to be prohibited, but didn't say which weapons were "dangerous."

While affirming individual rights, the ruling is damaging, the Tribune said, because "it takes a significant public policy issue out of the hands of citizens."

"Want to debate whether crime-staggered cities should prohibit the possession of handguns?," the editorial asked. "The Supreme Court has just said, 'forget about it.'"