Is Gun Ownership a Right?|5 Minute Video
What does the Second Amendment state? Is gun ownership a right for all Americans? Or simply for a small militia? Eugene Volokh, Professor of Law at UCLA, discusses what the Founding Fathers planned.
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Script:
Does an American resident have a Constitutional right to own a gun?
Here’s what the Second Amendment states: “A well-regulated Militia, being essential to the security of a free State, the right of individuals to keep and bear Arms, will not be infringed.”
Now, it once appeared to me like that language just secured state militias and not individuals. This is the view held by the four dissenting Supreme Court justices in the 2008 case of District of Columbia versus Heller, a landmark case dealing with gun ownership.
The more research study I did, the more I came to recognize that my initial view was mistaken and that the Founders were, in reality, protecting an individual. The 5 justices who voted to affirm the right to own a weapon in DC versus Heller had, undoubtedly, made the right choice.
Let’s take a look at the amendment one more time.
” A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a complimentary State, the right of individuals to keep and bear Arms, will not be infringed.”
Keep in mind that the people are the only ones whose right is protected here, not a state or the militia federal government. And the Fourth Amendment secures “The right of the individuals to be safe … against unreasonable searches and seizures.”
Why, then, if the authors of the Constitution felt so highly about “the right of individuals” to own guns, did they consist of language about “a well-regulated militia”?
These opening words of the amendment might be called a “justification clause.” Such provisions are utilized to help explain why a right is being secured. It’s the operative clause that describes what right is being protected. In this case, the right of the people to keep and bear arms.
And what was the word ‘militia’ understood to indicate at the time?
Well, the Militia Act of 1792 defined “militia” to imply all white males 18 to 45. Today, of course, “militia” would include females and individuals of all races, however it was plainly not a referral to a little, National Guard-type group.
And what about the part of the amendment that says a militia is required “to the security of a complimentary State”? What, the challengers of personal weapon ownership ask, does a personal right of weapon ownership involve that?
In the 1790s, the phrase “free State” wasn’t used to imply an individual state like New York or Rhode Island. Rather, it meant what we ‘d call today a “free country”– a country complimentary of despotism. A “free State” is what the Framers desired America to be.
This does not imply, though, that this right is unlimited. Free speech, for example, has actually long undergone some affordable and narrow policies. But serious constraints on owning a weapon, like extreme limitations on free speech, would breach the Second Amendment as the Founders understood it.
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source
Is gun ownership a right for all Americans? Note that the people are the only ones whose right is protected here, not the militia or a state federal government. And the Fourth Amendment secures “The right of the individuals to be protected … versus unreasonable searches and seizures.”
Such stipulations are used to help describe why a right is being secured. In this case, the right of the individuals to keep and bear arms.
