High court fight looms over right to carry a gun

Updated: Mon 8:40 AM, Dec 17, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) - The next big issue in the national debate over guns is whether people have a right to be armed in public. And it's moving closer to Supreme Court review.

A provocative ruling by a panel of federal appeals court judges in Chicago struck down the last statewide ban on carrying concealed weapons, in Illinois.

The ruling is somewhat at odds with those of other federal courts that have largely upheld state and local gun laws, including restrictions on concealed weapons, since the Supreme Court's landmark ruling declaring that people have a right to have a gun for self-defense.

In 2008 the high court voted 5-4 to strike down Washington, D.C.'s ban on handgun ownership and focused mainly on the right to defend one's home.

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