THE 2ND AMENDMENT CONSTITUTION

The 2nd amendment constitution

The 2nd amendment constitution

Introduction

The Second Amendment (Amendment II) to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that protects the right to keep and bear arms. It was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights.

The 2nd amendment constitution

Two Supreme Court rulings, District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago (2010), clarified the meaning of the Second Amendment. In Heller, the Court ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to possess a firearm (unconnected to service in a militia)[1][2] and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home. (Boston, 1769)The Court also held that this was not an unlimited right and enumerated several longstanding prohibitions and restrictions which are not limited by the Second Amendment.[3] In McDonald, the Court determined that the Second Amendment limits state and local governmental authority to the same extent that it limits federal authority. (Thompson, 1938)

The right to have arms in English history is believed to have been regarded as a long established natural right in English law, auxiliary to the natural and legally defensible rights to life.[8] The English Bill of Rights states that it is acting to restore "ancient rights" trampled upon by James II, though some have argued that the English Bill of Rights created a new right to have arms which developed out of a duty to have arms.[9] In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the Supreme Court did not accept this view, remarking that the English right at the time of the passing of the English Bill of Rights was "clearly an individual right, having nothing whatsoever to do with service in the militia" and that it was a right not to be disarmed by the crown and was not the granting of a new right to have arms.[10] (Thompson, 1938)

The text of the English Bill of Rights of 1689 includes language protecting the right of Protestants against disarmament by the Crown. This document states: “That the Subjects which are Protestants may have Arms for their Defence suitable to their Conditions and as allowed by Law.” (Thompson, 1938)

The English Bill of Rights statement about the right to have arms is often quoted only in the passage where it is written as above and not in its full context. Quoting out of context ...