The Right to Bear Arms

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, today, the interpretation of the amendment has polarized the American people into two different views: (1) Those opposed to private ownership of firearms argue that there is no individual right to bear arms because the Second Amendment refers to the people's collective right as a members of a well-regulated State militia, and (2) those in favor hold that individuals may bring claims or raise challenges based on a violation of their rights under the Second Amendment. The author points out that the "rights of the people" means the rights of individuals; the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right, just as are all rights in the first ten amendments, the Bill of Rights. The paper relates that the phrase "keep arms" at the time of the writing of the United States Constitution usually indicated the private ownership and retention of arms by individuals as individuals, not the stockpiling of arms by a government or its soldiers.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Historical Background
Constitutional Interpretation
"The Right of the People"
"To Keep and Bear Arms"
"A Well Regulated Militia, Being Necessary to the Security of a Free State"
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"When "right" is used together with "the people" the right must belong to individuals because people are not a State or the Militia. Evidence shows that the only truly "collective" use of the "the people" at the time of the Founding was to refer to the people as they existed apart from government or any service to it. For example, the Declaration of Independence refers to "one People" dissolving their political bonds with another and forming their own nation, and "We the people" created the Constitution in ratifying conventions chosen "by the People" of each State. Thus, when "the right of the people" appears in the Constitution, it indicates a personal right of individuals, whether that be a right to assemble and petition, to be secure in one's person and property, or to keep and bear arms."

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