US Supreme Court returns to gun rights for first time in nearly a decade

WASHINGTON－The US Supreme Court was scheduled to address gun control on Monday for the first time in nearly 10 years with a majority of justices seen as supporting the rights of people who own firearms.

In a country in which guns kill nearly 40,000 people every year, the nine-member court will again look at a case involving the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, which enshrines "the right of the people to keep and bear arms".

The court ruled in a landmark decision in 2008 that the amendment guaranteed what it called an individual right to own a gun, and struck down a law that banned handguns. In 2010, it said this decision applied both at the state and federal levels.