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.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Let’s face it – when you work in politics, sometimes you have to spend time with dull people. ...
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Let’s face it – when you work in politics, sometimes you have to spend time with dull people. ...
Monday, November 23, 2009
Fairfax, Va. -- An overwhelming, bipartisan majority of attorneys general have signed an amicus curiae, or "friend of ...
Monday, November 23, 2009
Fairfax, Va. -- A large bipartisan group of state legislators and other elected officials from all 50 states ...
Monday, November 23, 2009
Fairfax, Va. -- An overwhelming, bipartisan majority of members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. ...
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Fairfax, Va. -- The National Rifle Association applauds the Supreme Court's decision, announced today, to hear the landmark ...
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
In an astonishing and rare procedural shift, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to produce an expected narrow decision ...
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
In an astonishing and rare procedural shift, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to produce an expected narrow decision ...
Friday, August 14, 2009
Should state and local governments be allowed to ban handguns? Yes, says the U.S. Court of Appeals for ...
Friday, August 14, 2009
Should state and local governments be allowed to ban handguns? Yes, says the U.S. Court of Appeals for ...