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.
Friday, August 14, 2009
The Obama administration’s offensive against the Second Amendment has begun. As was predicted, the strategy uses international law ...
Friday, August 14, 2009
The Obama administration’s offensive against the Second Amendment has begun. As was predicted, the strategy uses international law ...
Friday, August 14, 2009
A right that’s not exercised is a right that can be lost.
Friday, August 14, 2009
A right that’s not exercised is a right that can be lost.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Other than declaring war, neither house of Congress has a more solemn responsibility than the Senate’s role in ...
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Other than declaring war, neither house of Congress has a more solemn responsibility than the Senate’s role in ...
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Fairfax, Va. – Two-thirds of the nation’s attorneys general have filed an amicus brief asking the U.S. Supreme ...
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Does the Second Amendment apply to state and local governments? The Supreme Court has not definitively ruled, but ...
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Does the Second Amendment apply to state and local governments? The Supreme Court has not definitively ruled, but ...
Thursday, May 21, 2009
On April 29, U.S. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), the ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, who ...