LITTLE ROCK (AP) - Attorney General Dustin McDaniel says he thinks the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling striking down the District of Columbia's ban on handguns will end up benefiting gun owners in Arkansas.

McDaniel had joined a brief before the court challenging the D.C. handgun ban. Today, justices said in a 5-4 ruling that the restriction was incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment.

McDaniel said he believed the court's decision put a reasonable balance between the rights of gun owners and "reasonable" restrictions on gun ownership.

The brief filed last year was McDaniel's first high-profile entry into the gun control debate since his 2006 election as attorney general. In his race for the state's top law enforcement office, McDaniel sparred with opponents over gun rights, hunting and the purpose of the Second Amendment.

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