Right to Bear Arms Concepts
The big picture: What you need to know and why.
Meaning of the Second Amendment
Debate over how to interpret Second Amendment is fiercePrecise language of Second Amendment is ambiguous Just about everybody has an opinion on the Second Amendment—and just about everybody i...
United States v. Cruikshank
1876 Supreme Court case ruled against any individual right to bear armsSecond Amendment guaranteed only states' rights to maintain militiasState governments could regulate guns however they saw fit...
United States v. Miller
1938 Supreme Court decision supported a federal gun control lawRuled that independent gun rights had to be connected to citizens' "common obligation" to serve in militias when calledCase opened doo...
District of Columbia v. Heller
2008 Supreme Court ruling overturned DC ban on handgunsCourt reversed earlier decisions, ruling that the Second Amendment does protect an individual right to bear arms, independent of militia servi...