The U.S. Supreme Court overturned a Massachusetts ban on stun guns Monday, ruling that “stun guns are widely owned and accepted as a legitimate means of self-defense ... Massachusetts’ categorical ban ... therefore violates the Second Amendment.” The case—Caetano v. Massachusetts—was brought by a woman convicted of possessing a stun gun to protect herself from an abusive ex-boyfriend.
The unanimous decision, which began by noting that the Court had already held, in the Heller case, that “the Second Amendment extends, prima facie, to all instruments that constitute bearable arms, even those that were not in existence at the time of the founding,” sends the case back to the Massachusetts court to be reheard.
In less encouraging news, the Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to a federal law barring customers—even Right-to-Carry permit holders—from being armed when picking up mail from post offices, allowing that ban to stand.
