Second Amendment & the Right to Keep and Bear Arms
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
The Second Amendment protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms for defense of life and liberty.
In U.S. v. Cruikshank (1876), Presser v. Illinois (1886), Miller v. Texas (1894) and U.S. v. Miller (1939), the Supreme Court recognized that the amendment protects an individual right. It has never taken a different view. However, in Salina v. Blaksley (1905), the Kansas Supreme Court invented the idea that the amendment instead protected a “right” of a person to keep and bear arms only while serving in a state militia, and in U.S. v. Tot (1942), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit advanced the idea that the amendment protects the “right” of a state to have a militia.
In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the Supreme Court heard its first case specifically centered on whether the amendment protects an individual right to arms. Gun control supporters advanced essentially the "Salina" argument, but the Court, consistent with its previous rulings in Second Amendment-related cases, ruled that the amendment protects an individual right to keep arms and to bear arms "in case of confrontation," without regard to a person’s relationship to a militia.
In McDonald v. Chicago (2010), the court extended the Second Amendment's protection nationwide.
Thursday, October 5, 2017
Michael Moore thinks it's time to repeal the 2nd Amendment and replace it with a 28th Amendment that ...
Friday, September 29, 2017
D.C. officials will not be able to enforce the city’s strict limits on carrying concealed firearms on the ...
Friday, September 8, 2017
SB 719 calls for the forced confiscation of property (guns) by the police with no due process, no ...
Thursday, September 7, 2017
In the Virgin Islands — the government’s coming for your guns.The governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands signed ...
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
The National Rifle Association (NRA) is threatening legal action to stop a seizure of guns and ammunition by ...
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
50 percent of respondents say they are more concerned that the government will go too far in restricting ...
Thursday, August 31, 2017
A federal lawsuit claims the state is violating the rights of Michigan foster parents by imposing too many ...
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Defenders of the Second Amendment rejoiced when Donald Trump, who has been outspoken in his support of gun ...
Friday, August 25, 2017
The District’s top lawyer on Thursday asked a federal appeals court to rehear a challenge to the city’s ...
Thursday, August 17, 2017
Resolution 118B urges state and local governments to enact laws and regulations authorizing courts to issue gun violence ...