Why did Otis McDonald challenge Chicago’s handgun registration law?

Otis McDonald challenged Chicago’s 1982 handgun registration law because it effectively banned the new registration of handguns and required registration as a prerequisite for firearm possession.1

McDonald and other plaintiffs argued that this law violated the individual right to possess and carry weapons for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense, which the U.S. Supreme Court had previously recognized as protected by the Second Amendment in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008). The core of the legal challenge was whether the Second Amendment, which applies to the federal government, should also be applicable to state and local governments through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.12

Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled in McDonald v. City of Chicago that the Second Amendment is incorporated and applies to the states, affirming that the right to possess firearms for self-defense is fundamental to the American system of justice.21