Commonwealth v. McGowan

McGowan (defendant) kept a loaded, unlocked handgun in an unsecured drawer; after an argument, his roommate took the gun outside, and when McGowan retrieved it, police found him with the loaded weapon and charged him with violating a statute requiring firearms not carried by or under the owner's immediate control to be stored in a locked container or with certain safety devices. McGowan moved to dismiss on Second Amendment grounds, and the case reached the Massachusetts Supreme Court on a certified question.