Handgun Prohibition and the Original Meaning of the Second Amendment
Kates Jr., Don B.
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- 2026United States v. Squire 5th Cir.
- 2026Commonwealth v. Thomson Mass.
- 2025National Rifle Association v. Commissioner, Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement 11th Cir.
- 2024United States v. Jesus Perez Garcia 9th Cir.
- 2024Arthur Moore v. State of Indiana Ind. Ct. App.
- 2024Bryan Range v. Attorney General United States 3rd Cir.
- 2024Derek Wade Ginevan v. Commonwealth of Virginia Va. Ct. App.
- 2023People v. Brooks Ill. App. Ct.
- 2019Folajtar v. Barr E.D. Pa.
- 2019Kanter v. Barr 7th Cir.
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Abstract
One of the purposes of this Article will be to sketch out at least some of the very substantial limitations on the right of individuals to keep and bear arms suggested by the historical evidence. First, however, the controversy between the individual right and the exclusively state's right views must be resolved. The evidence to be examined must include: the literal language of the second amendment; the history of its proposal and ratification; the philosophical and historical background that gave rise to the Founders' belief in "the necessity of an armed populace to effect popular sovereignty"; and the contemporary understanding of the second amendment. This Article will then consider the amendment's subsequent judicial interpretation, and the question of its incorporation against the states, before returning to constitutional limitations on the right to keep and bear arms.