The U.S. Supreme Court announced Tuesday it will decide whether the District’s 31-year-old handgun ban is constitutional, a review that could decide the future of gun laws across the nation.

“We are united and committed to fight for the safety and welfare of the District’s people, and we are glad that the Supreme Court will allow us to argue on behalf of Washington, D.C., residents,” Mayor Adrian Fenty said during a news conference, backed by members of the D.C. Council.

At stake in District of Columbia v. Heller is the nation’s strictest handgun ban, a total prohibition long loathed by gun-rights advocates. Gun-control laws across the country could be challenged by the high court’s first review of Second Amendment issues since 1939.

“That’s good news for all Americans who would like to be able to defend themselves where they live and sleep,” Robert A. Levy, co-counsel for the plaintiffs and a senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute, said in a statement. “And it’s especially good news for residents of Washington, D.C., which has been the murder capital of the nation despite an outright ban on all functional firearms since 1976.”

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A lawsuit originally brought by six D.C. residents who thought the city’s gun laws were too restrictive was first dismissed in the city’s favor by a U.S. District Court judge. That dismissal was overturned in March by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Alan B. Morrison, special counsel to Attorney General Linda Singer, will argue the District’s case early next year.

The city has said in its court arguments that the Second Amendment exists strictly to prevent the federal government from disarming a state’s militia and therefore a ban on individual gun ownership enacted by the will of the people is constitutional. The plaintiffs say the Constitution ensures the rights of citizens to bear arms.

Ban supporters have long said that the law reduces violence by taking firearms out of the hands of criminals, but critics say residents should have the right to protect themselves. Roughly 80 percent of all homicides in D.C. are shooting-related, and half of all robberies occur at gunpoint.

In accepting the petition, the Supreme Court said it would answer only whether the D.C. gun ban violates the Second Amendment rights of individuals “who are not affiliated with any state-regulated militia, but who wish to keep handguns and other firearms for private use in their homes.”

mneibauer@dcexaminer.com