Handgun Prohibition and the Original Meaning of the Second Amendment

Abstract

Such legislation could, for example, take the form of a restrictive permit requirement designed and administered to exclude more than 99% of the civilian population from handgun ownership. On the constitutionality of restrictive permit systems, see notes 253-54 infra and accompanying text. 2.

The Second Amendment: A Dialogue

“…At the very least the right to "keep" arms implies some right to carry them, for example, to and from a target range. 3 ' Moreover, since the right to "bear" is also guaranteed, some more general right to carry must be contemplated. This reading does not necessarily render invalid the present American legal pattern which conditions carrying either on the weapon being unconcealed or on the possession of a carry permit.…”

“…This reading does not necessarily render invalid the present American legal pattern which conditions carrying either on the weapon being unconcealed or on the possession of a carry permit. 3 2 What it does imply, however, is very substantial limitations on the arbitrariness with which permit applications have traditionally been handled. At the very least, police agencies are not free either to limit permits to the wealthy, influential, or politically powerful, or to categorically deny them to all persons.…”

Heller, McDonald and Murder: Testing the More Guns, More Murder Thesis

“…155 We know that during the colonial period the lawenforced by officials-required every man and every household to possess at least one gun. 156 Jumping forward more than half a century, we know that the post-Civil War period saw the country "awash with military pistols." 157 But that is as specific as the facts available allow.…”

The Political Sociology of Private Armies in Colombia and the United States

“…The Second Amendment further justified militias, stating that they were necessary to ensure a ''free State.'' The Amendment has been interpreted by some to mean that the militia serves the important republican function of safeguarding the people against the tyranny of standing armies and government incumbents (Halbrook 1984;Kates 1983;Williams 1991).…”