A CIVIL RIGHTS MILESTONE: Last Handgun Ban In An American Jurisdiction Struck Down As Unconstitutional. “The court also strikes down the ban on importing handguns, because the ban makes handguns essentially unavailable: ‘In the Commonwealth, the import ban on handguns can only operate as a sales ban on a constitutionally protected product. The import ban on handguns and their ammunition is unconstitutional and violates the Covenant; Defendants will be enjoined from enforcing it.’ And it agrees with the parties that, if the handgun ban is unconstitutional (as it is), it can’t be applied to lawful permanent residents any more than to citizens, since the 14th Amendment has been understood as generally prohibiting state discrimination based on citizenship (and thus, under the Commonwealth Charter, discrimination by the commonwealth).”