The state's highest court has ruled that Massachusetts' ban on the possession of stun guns does not violate the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The Supreme Judicial Court, in a unanimous decision on Monday, upheld the 2011 conviction of Jamie Caetano in Ashland. Police investigating a shoplifting report found a stun gun in the woman's purse.

Caetano told police that she carried the weapon as self-defense against an abusive former boyfriend and argued in her appeal that she had a constitutional right to carry it.

The justices disagreed, saying that a stun gun -- which can administer incapacitating electrical shocks -- is not the type of weapon that is subject to Second Amendment protection.

The court said it was up to the state Legislature to determine whether such weapons should be legal in Massachusetts.

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High court upholds state ban on stun guns