The Second Amendment: A Case Study in Constitutional Interpretation

The Rocky Mountain West is gun country in popular folklore and probably also in fact. Reliable numbers are hard to come by, but in one recent survey estimating the percentage of households with handguns, the Mountain states ranked well above the national average-and this in a nation with one of the highest per capita gun ownership rates in the world. Earlier this year, the National Rifle Association (NRA) announced that it would hold its 2007 annual convention here in Salt Lake City, in part to reward Utah's gun-friendly laws and lawmakers. I suspect that a high percentage of Utahns could recite the Second Amendment by heart.