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.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Fairfax, VA—Law-abiding citizens of New Orleans who were forced to relinquish their legally owned firearms to the New ...
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
No summary available
Wednesday, March 1, 2006
Fairfax, VA—The National Rifle Association (NRA ) has filed a motion for contempt against the City of New ...
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
Fairfax, VA - Even with opposition from San Francisco law enforcement and major media outlets, Proposition H -- ...
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Fairfax, VA - This week, legislation to prohibit firearm confiscation (HB 285) was filed in Florida to help ...
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
(Washington, DC) - President George W. Bush today signed into law the National Rifle Association (NRA)-backed "Protection of ...
Tuesday, October 4, 2005
(Fairfax, VA) -- National Rifle Association (NRA) Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre will join Virginia gubernatorial candidate Jerry ...
Thursday, September 22, 2005
(Fairfax, VA) - Today, the National Rifle Association (NRA) filed a motion in United States District Court for ...
Thursday, September 1, 2005
This new approach to "judging" judges is such a departure from accepted precedent that commentators have started calling ...
Thursday, September 1, 2005
This new approach to “judging” judges is such a departure from accepted precedent that commentators have started calling ...