Supreme Court Rules Stun-Guns Fine for Self Defense

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled Monday that stun-guns can be carried for self defense, issuing a favorable decision for a woman who was convicted for carrying the weapon in Massachusetts.

The Supreme Court’s ruling vacates a Massachusetts supreme court decision that said state law banned the possession of stun-guns. The Massachusetts court decided the Second Amendment did not extend protection to such weapons because stun-guns were not around when the Constitution was written.

The Supreme Court, however, has previously held that the right to bear arms extends to weapons that weren’t around at the time of the nation’s founding.

The ruling, both unanimous and brief, is not signed by any particular justice and avoids any further examination of the rights of citizens to keep and bear arms. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito wrote an extended concurring opinion that expanded on the Massachusetts case, in which a woman brandished a stun-gun during an encounter with her abusive ex-boyfriend.