Search results
People also ask
What does the Second Amendment say about a militia?
When was the Second Amendment ratified?
What does the Second Amendment say?
Is the Second Amendment a little-visited area of the Constitution?
The Second Amendment (Amendment II) to the United States Constitution protects the right to keep and bear arms. It was ratified on December 15, 1791, along with nine other articles of the Bill of Rights .
- Third Amendment to The United States Constitution
The Bill of Rights in the National Archives. The Third...
- 2nd Amendment Day
2nd Amendment Day is a public awareness day observed in...
- Third Amendment to The United States Constitution
- Right to Bear Arms
- State Militias
- Well-Regulated Militia
- District of Columbia v. Heller
- Mcdonald v. Chicago
- Gun Control Debate
- Mass Shootings
- Sources
The text of the Second Amendment reads in full: “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 framers of the Bill of Rightsadapted the wording of the amendment from nearly identical clauses in some of the original 13 state constitutions. During...
But as militias had proved insufficient against the British, the Constitutional Conventiongave the new federal government the power to establish a standing army, even in peacetime. However, opponents of a strong central government (known as Anti-Federalists) argued that this federal army deprived states of their ability to defend themselves against...
Practically since its ratification, Americans have debated the meaning of the Second Amendment, with vehement arguments being made on both sides. The crux of the debate is whether the amendment protects the right of private individuals to keep and bear arms, or whether it instead protects a collective right that should be exercised only through for...
Since the passage of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, which mandated background checks for gun purchases from licensed dealers, the debate on gun control has changed dramatically. This is partially due to the actions of the Supreme Court, which departed from its past stance on the Second Amendment with its verdicts in two major cases, Dis...
Two years later, in McDonald v. Chicago, the Supreme Court struck down (also in a 5-4 decision) a similar citywide handgun ban, ruling that the Second Amendment applies to the states as well as to the federal government. In the majority ruling in that case, Justice Samuel Alito wrote: “Self-defense is a basic right, recognized by many legal systems...
The Supreme Court’s narrow rulings in the Heller and McDonaldcases left open many key issues in the gun control debate. In the Hellerdecision, the Court suggested a list of “presumptively lawful” regulations, including bans on possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill; bans on carrying arms in schools and government buildings; restricti...
Since that verdict, as lower courts battle back and forth on cases involving such restrictions, the public debate over Second Amendment rights and gun control remains very much open, even as mass shootings became an increasingly frequentoccurrence in American life. To take just three examples, the Columbine Shooting, where two teens killed 13 peopl...
Bill of Rights, The Oxford Guide to the United States Government. Jack Rakove, ed. The Annotated U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Amendment II, National Constitution Center. The Second Amendment and the Right to Bear Arms, LiveScience. Second Amendment, Legal Information Institute.
Right to Bear Arms. Signing Details. More in The Constitution. Share. Second Amendment. 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. See Teaching Resources.
Second Amendment. 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.
Interpretation & Debate. The Second Amendment. More in The Constitution. Amendment 2. 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. Matters of Debate. Common Interpretation. The Reasonable Right to Bear Arms.
The original full text of the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution is as follows: Original Text. 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. Cause and Reason for the 2nd Amendment.
Overview. prev | next. Amdt2.1 Overview. Second Amendment: 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. For much of its early history, the Second Amendment went largely unscrutinized by the Supreme Court.