This soft-spoken grandfather, believing he needed a gun to shield his family from gangs and drug dealers that terrorized his neighborhood, also felt strongly that he had a duty to stand up for the rights taken away from African-Americans during slavery.

In an interview after winning the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that bears his name, he said he had come to understand more about his ancestors and the "slave codes" enacted in Southern states during the Civil War that prohibited slaves from owning guns. After slavery was abolished, states adopted "black codes" that kept guns out of the hands of freed blacks. "There was a wrong done a long time ago that dates back to slavery time," he said. "I could feel the spirit of those people running through me as I sat in the Supreme Court."