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.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Last week we reported on a major breakthrough on behalf of veterans who risked losing their Second Amendment ...
Friday, October 30, 2020
With everyone from newspapers and commentators to campaign surrogates and the candidates themselves vying for our attention, it’s ...
Friday, May 31, 2019
The Supreme Court has the chance to reinforce its 11-year-old message to the lower courts: the Second Amendment ...
Friday, May 17, 2019
Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens does not believe a law-abiding citizen has a right to possess ...
Friday, February 15, 2019
This week, the City Council Members of Los Angeles showed their extreme distain of the Second Amendment, the ...
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
A devout anti-gun Commissioner of Agriculture (Nikki Fried) and an even worse anti-gun Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture (Mary ...
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Should authorities be able to deny handgun licenses for hateful tweets?A New York lawmaker is raising the question ...
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
A gun control proposal in the New York State Legislature is getting some push-back from privacy groups.
Thursday, November 29, 2018
Do the math and you can understand why Andrew Cuomo and most members of the State Legislate easily ...
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
President Donald Trump would have loved to see Republicans keep their grip on the House of Representatives in ...
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