WASHINGTON, June 17 (UPI) -- Differing court rulings on the constitutionality of local gun control laws means the issue will probably end up in the U.S. Supreme Court, analysts say.
In the wake of last year's landmark High Court ruling establishing the constitutional right of Americans to own guns, lower courts have been issuing conflicting decisions on the practical applications of that interpretation, setting up another possible Supreme Court ruling, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
Legal experts say the need for further high court clarification on the gun issue became evident when one lower court ruled to uphold the city of Chicago's ban on automatic weapons while another in California disagreed on a similar case. The results may be a further expansion of gun rights.
"Californians, Hawaiians and Oregonians have a Second Amendment right to bear arms, but New Yorkers, Illinoisans and Wisconsinites don't," Adam Winkler, a UCLA law professor, told the Times. "The Supreme Court will want to correct this sooner rather than later."
Akhil Reed Amar, a law professor at Yale University, said incorporation -- the process of applying amendments of the Bill of Rights to the states -- will likely continue with Second Amendment-related gun freedom issues.
