Origins and Purpose of the U.S. Second Amendment
The Second Amendment (Amendment II) to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights that protects a right to keep and bear arms. It was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights. The American Bar Association has noted that there is more disagreement, and less understanding, about this right than about almost any other current constitutional issue.
Text of the 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.”
Origins
Having been oppressed by a professional army, the founding fathers had no interest in establishing one of their own. Instead, they concluded that an armed citizenry made the best army of all. General George Washington drew up regulations for the “well regulated militia” named in the amendment — a militia meant to consist of every able-bodied man in the country.
Controversy
The Second Amendment holds a unique distinction among the Bill of Rights: it has essentially gone unenforced. The Supreme Court has never struck down a piece of legislation on Second Amendment grounds alone — in part because justices have long disagreed over whether it protects an individual right to bear arms, or a right that exists only as part of a “well regulated militia.”
Three Ways to Read It
Legal scholars fall along a spectrum, from militia-only to fully individual
Reading 1 · Civilian Militia
The amendment protected a militia system that no longer exists, so the argument goes, and is effectively obsolete today.
Reading 2 · Median
The amendment protects an individual right, but one that the militia language restricts or qualifies in some way.
Reading 3 · Individual Rights
The right to bear arms is an individual right, on the same footing as rights like freedom of speech.
