Does an individual have a constitutional right to own a gun for personal use? If so, can government regulate how that right is exercised?

The U.S. Supreme Court weighed both questions during oral arguments recently in a potentially landmark Second Amendment case.

If the court says "yes" to the first question — which seems likely — it should also answer "yes" to the second one.

Since 1939, the prevailing legal view has been that the right to bear arms was a collective right — not an individual one — based on the need to maintain a militia for public safety. This interpretation has allowed individual gun ownership to be freely regulated.

Last year, a federal appeals court challenged that thinking.

It ruled that the District of Columbia's ban on handguns was an unconstitutional infringement on an individual's right to own firearms. It applied a "strict scrutiny" standard, which, if accepted by the Supreme Court, could open current federal and local regulations to legal challenge.

This possibility has alarmed attorneys general from five states, including Hawai'i's Mark Bennett, who filed a brief supporting the district's law. Thirty-one other states, a clear majority, urged that the district's law be struck down.

In any case, the ownership and use of firearms need to be properly and fairly regulated. On this point, at least, gun-rights advocates and anti-gun activists agree.

The question is one of degree. Clearly, common-sense measures, such as safety training, sensible procedures for licensing, and guidelines for securing firearms and ammunition in homes and vehicles are reasonable and necessary.

Individual rights, even those in the Bill of Rights, are not absolute; they come with responsibilities, defined by the people through custom and representative government.

Owning firearms is not, in itself, a dangerous practice. In Hawai'i, thousands of responsible, law-abiding citizens keep and bear arms for recreation and personal safety. The Supreme Court should allow state and local governments to protect the rights of these citizens, while safeguarding against those who would abuse them.