In the recent ruling District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court found that gun regulation is constitutional. While affirming the right of an individual to own a gun, the court ruled that “like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.”

The decision went on to give examples of constitutional gun regulations such as “prohibitions on carrying concealed weapons,” “prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill,” “laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings,” “laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms” and laws “prohibiting the carrying of dangerous and unusual weapons.” It also affirmed the ability of the District of Columbia to require licensing and registration of firearms. The decision went on to state that the prohibitions identified were only examples and that “our list does not purport to be exhaustive.” The court fully endorsed gun control as a concept and legal doctrine.

It should be noted that the Maine Supreme Court also has upheld the constitutionality of gun control regulations. The Maine court also held that the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right but that the right is not absolute. In 1990, the Maine court found that statutes regulating the possession of firearms by convicted felons serve the public welfare and a statue requiring a permit to carry a concealed weapon did not violate an individual’s rights because the statute was “a reasonable response to the justifiable public safety concern engendered by the carrying of concealed weapons.”

For years, the gun lobby has fought against common sense gun laws with the cry heard over and over that these laws were a slippery slope, a slope that led to gun bans, and that gun regulations were an infringement on an individual’s right to own a gun. The Heller decision puts both those arguments to rest.

Our elected officials, at both the state and the federal level, should now move forward to pass workable, meaningful, common sense gun laws that will protect our public health, keep criminals from purchasing guns, and work to reduce the gun violence so prevalent in this country. We can and should put barriers between firearms and those who should not possess them. Responsible gun owners should endorse common sense gun laws and work to protect our communities from gun violence.

Maine has the weakest gun laws in the nation. There is no licensing or registration requirements for firearm ownership, there is no waiting period to purchase a gun, there is no requirement that you have any safety training before buying a gun, and Maine allows for the private sale of guns where there will be no background check run, no records kept and no questions asked. All too often, our newspapers carry stories of armed robberies, gun violence incidents, firearm suicides, shootings and even murders. Maine is now a leading source state for crime guns in Massachusetts. No one wants to see gun trafficking grow in Maine.

Now that our courts have made clear that the right to own a gun exists side by side with the right to regulate the purchase, possession and carrying of guns, it is time for our elected officials to step up and work to pass common sense gun laws that protect our communities, our neighborhoods and our public health.

Cathie Whittenburg is director of the New England Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence in Westbrook.