Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/07pdf/07-290.pdf
Page Number: 133.0

20 

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA v. HELLER 

BREYER, J., dissenting 

rural  areas  appear  to  have  a  higher  rate  of  firearm  sui-
cide).  And  a  study  of  firearm  injuries  to  children  and
adolescents  in  Pennsylvania  between  1987  and  2000
showed  an  injury  rate  in  urban  counties  10  times  higher 
than in nonurban counties.  Nance & Branas, The Rural-
Urban  Continuum,  156  Archives  of  Pediatrics  &  Adoles-
cent Medicine 781, 782 (2002). 

Finally, the linkage of handguns to firearms deaths and 
injuries  appears  to  be  much  stronger  in  urban  than  in
rural  areas.  “[S]tudies  to  date  generally  support  the  hy-
pothesis  that  the  greater  number  of  rural  gun  deaths  are 
from  rifles  or  shotguns,  whereas  the  greater  number  of 
urban gun deaths are from handguns.”  Dresang, supra, at 
108.  And the Pennsylvania study reached a similar con-
clusion  with  respect  to  firearm  injuries—they  are  much
more likely to be caused by handguns in urban areas than
in rural areas.  See Nance & Branas, supra, at 784. 

3 
Respondent and his many amici for the most part do not 
disagree  about  the  figures  set  forth  in  the  preceding  sub-
section,  but  they  do  disagree  strongly  with  the  District’s 
predictive  judgment  that  a  ban  on  handguns  will  help
solve  the  crime  and  accident  problems  that  those  figures
In  particular,  they  disagree  with  the  District
disclose. 
Council’s  assessment  that  “freezing  the  pistol  . . .  popula-
tion within the District,” DC Rep., at 26, will reduce crime, 
accidents,  and  deaths  related  to  guns.    And  they  provide
facts and figures designed to show that it has not done so 
in the past, and hence will not do so in the future. 

First,  they  point  out  that,  since  the  ban  took  effect,
violent crime in the District has increased, not decreased. 
See Brief for Criminologists et al. as Amici Curiae 4–8, 3a 
(hereinafter  Criminologists’  Brief);  Brief  for  Congress  of
Racial  Equality  as  Amicus  Curiae  35–36;  Brief  for  Na-
tional Rifle Assn. et al. as Amici Curiae 28–30 (hereinafter