Guns can be dangerous, so local and state governments have every right to ban their ownership by Americans, some Supreme Court justices have said.
That is not how the Constitution works, as a slim majority on the high court has ruled.
The Second Amendment says Americans have a right to "keep and bear arms" - so they do, the court ruled in a case that overturned Chicago's ban on handgun ownership.
Our nation's Founders were well aware guns can be misused. If you think today's street gangs are a fearsome threat, think about Native Americans who were able to use 19th-century muskets to terrifying effect against pioneers.
But the Founders believed the Second Amendment was necessary for a variety of reasons. We believe most Americans agree with them.
The only troubling aspect of the high court's ruling is that only five of the nine justices concurred in it.
