States Take Sides on D.C. Gun Ban Challenge

WASHINGTON -- When the U.S. Supreme Court takes up D.C.'s gun ban in March, it could open up a new battle between the states.

States across the country are lining up on both sides, filing friends of the court briefs for or against the District's law banning handguns.

D.C. has the toughest gun control law in the country.

Virginia, along with Arkansas and Texas, are joining the challenge of the ban.

"This is a case of fundamental importance to the interpretation of the Constitution of the United States that is going to impact every state and every territory in the Union based on how they rule," Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell says.

Maryland, New York, Illinois and Hawaii are filing briefs backing the law.

If D.C. wins the case, the effects will ripple across the country, McDonnell says.

"My sense is that it would open the doors for much broader and much more vast restrictions that would be permissible on firearms," McDonnell says.

McDonnell predicts almost all of the states will take one side of the argument.

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