Second Amendment | Text, Meaning, Definition, & History (2025)

United States Constitution

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Patrick J. Charles Patrick J. Charles is the historian of the 24th Special Operations Wing of the U.S. Air Force and was a legal analyst for the Immigration Reform Law Institute in Washington, D.C.

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Top Questions

What does the Second Amendment say?

The original text for the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is, “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.”

Does the Second Amendment allow owning guns for self-defense?

In the 2008 landmark case District of Columbia v. Heller, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that the Second Amendment includes the right of individuals to bear arms for self-defense. In 2010 McDonald v. City of Chicago extended the prior ruling from federal laws to state and local laws. This opinion is controversial.

Who wrote the Second Amendment?

The Second Amendment, ratified in 1791, was proposed by James Madison to allow the creation of civilian forces that can counteract a tyrannical federal government. Anti-Federalists believed that a centralized standing military, established by the Constitutional Convention, gave the federal government too much power and potential for violent oppression.

Which U.S. Supreme Court justices think the Second Amendment recognizes the individual’s right to bear arms in self-defense?

Of the current sitting members of the Supreme Court, Justices Clarence Thomas, John G. Roberts, Jr., and Samuel A. Alito, Jr., voted in the majority opinion of both District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. City of Chicago, the two cases that collectively established the individual’s right to bear arms for self-defense.

Do militias exist in the United States today?

Modern militias are most commonly known as State Defense Forces (SDFs). As of 2010, 23 states and territories maintained their own SDFs. Unlike federal organizations such as the National Guard, SDFs are under the sole jurisdiction of state or territorial governments and cannot be commanded by the federal government.

Is ownership of an assault weapon constitutional?

The Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act in 1994 banned private use of assault weapons, such as certain semiautomatic rifles. This federal ban expired in 2004. Some U.S. states have laws that prohibit assault weapons.

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Second Amendment, amendment to the Constitution of the United States, adopted in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights, that provided a constitutional check on congressional power under Article I Section 8 to organize, arm, and discipline the federal militia. The Second Amendment reads, “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.” Referred to in modern times as an individual’s right to carry and use arms for self-defense, the Second Amendment was envisioned by the framers of the Constitution, according to College of William and Mary law professor and future U.S. District Court judge St. George Tucker in 1803 in his great work Blackstone’s Commentaries: With Notes of Reference to the Constitution and Laws of the Federal Government of the United States and of the Commonwealth of Virginia, as the “true palladium of liberty.” In addition to checking federal power, the Second Amendment also provided state governments with what Luther Martin (1744/48–1826) described as the “last coup de grace” that would enable the states “to thwart and oppose the general government.” Last, it enshrined the ancient Florentine and Roman constitutional principle of civil and military virtue by making every citizen a soldier and every soldier a citizen. (See also gun control.)

Supreme Court interpretations

Until 2008 the Supreme Court of the United States had never seriously considered the constitutional scope of the Second Amendment. In its first hearing on the subject, in Presser v. Illinois (1886), the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment prevented the states from “prohibit[ing] the people from keeping and bearing arms, so as to deprive the United States of their rightful resource for maintaining the public security.” More than four decades later, in United States v. Schwimmer (1929), the Supreme Court cited the Second Amendment as enshrining that the duty of individuals “to defend our government against all enemies whenever necessity arises is a fundamental principle of the Constitution” and holding that “the common defense was one of the purposes for which the people ordained and established the Constitution.” Meanwhile, in United States v. Miller (1939), in a prosecution under the National Firearms Act (1934), the Supreme Court avoided addressing the constitutional scope of the Second Amendment by merely holding that the “possession or use of a shotgun having a barrel of less than eighteen inches in length” was not “any part of the ordinary military equipment” protected by the Second Amendment.

For more than seven decades after the United States v. Miller decision, what right to bear arms that the Second Amendment protected remained uncertain. This uncertainty was ended, however, in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), in which the Supreme Court examined the Second Amendment in exacting detail. In a narrow 5–4 majority, delivered by Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court held that self-defense was the “central component” of the amendment and that the District of Columbia’s “prohibition against rendering any lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense” to be unconstitutional. The Supreme Court also affirmed previous rulings that the Second Amendment ensured the right of individuals to take part in the defending of their liberties by taking up arms in an organized militia. However, the court was clear to emphasize that an individual’s right to an “organized militia” is not “the sole institutional beneficiary of the Second Amendment’s guarantee.”

Because the Heller ruling constrained only federal regulations against the right of armed self-defense in the home, it was unclear whether the court would hold that the Second Amendment guarantees established in Heller were equally applicable to the states. The Supreme Court answered that question in 2010, with its ruling on McDonald v. Chicago. In a plurality opinion, a 5–4 majority held that “the right to possess a handgun in the home for the purpose of self-defense” is applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause.

Britannica QuizAmendments to the U.S. Constitution

However, despite the use of “person” in that clause, the McDonald decision did not apply to noncitizens, because one member of the majority, Justice Clarence Thomas, refused in his concurring opinion to explicitly extend the right that far. Thomas wrote, “Because this case does not involve a claim brought by a noncitizen, I express no view on the difference, if any, between my conclusion and the plurality with respect to the extent to which States may regulate firearm possession by noncitizens.” Thomas’s conclusion was also supported by his view that the Second Amendment should be incorporated through the Fourteenth Amendment’s “privileges or immunities” clause, which recognizes only the rights of “citizens.”

The relatively narrow holdings in the Heller and McDonald decisions left many Second Amendment legal issues unsettled, including the constitutionality of many federal gun-control regulations, whether the right to carry or conceal a weapon in public was protected, and whether noncitizens are protected through the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause.

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Second Amendment | Text, Meaning, Definition, & History (2025)

FAQs

Second Amendment | Text, Meaning, Definition, & History? ›

The Second Amendment reads, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms

right of the people to keep and bear Arms
May 2022) The right to keep and bear arms (often referred to as the right to bear arms) is a legal right for people to possess weapons (arms) for the preservation of life, liberty, and property. The purpose of gun rights is for self-defense, as well as hunting and sporting activities.
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Right_to_keep_and_bear_arms
, shall not be infringed.” Referred to in modern times as an individual's right to carry and use arms for self-defense, the Second Amendment was envisioned by the framers ...

What was the original meaning of the Second Amendment? ›

Abundant historical evidence indicates that the Second Amendment was meant to leave citizens with the ability to defend themselves against unlawful violence. Such threats might come from usurpers of governmental power, but they might also come from criminals whom the government is unwilling or unable to control.

Why did the founding fathers add the Second Amendment? ›

The Founding Fathers felt that citizens should be able to protect themselves against the government and any other threat to their wellbeing or personal freedom. The Second Amendment granted citizens that right — giving them the ability to defend themselves and their property.

What is the Second Amendment in basic terms? ›

In the 2008 case District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court held that the "Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home."

What might happen if there were no Second Amendment? ›

Answer and Explanation:

Without the Second Amendment, states and the federal government would be able to regulate the manufacturing, sale and use of fire arms any way they like. Government could even go as far as strictly prohibiting anyone from owning or using firearms.

Why is the Second Amendment so controversial? ›

In the bitter debate over gun control, battle lines are often drawn around the Second Amendment, with many in favor of gun rights pointing to it as the source of their constitutional authority to bear arms, and some in favor of tighter gun control disagreeing with that interpretation.

Does gun control violate the 2nd Amendment? ›

The Second Amendment was written to protect Americans' right to establish militias to defend themselves, not to allow individual Americans to own guns; consequently, gun-control measures do not violate the U.S. Constitution.

How many times has the 2nd Amendment been changed? ›

The 2nd Amendment has never been directly changed or repealed. But it has been VIOLATED many, many times.

Does the 2nd Amendment only apply to militias? ›

District of Columbia v.

The Court held that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms, wholly separate from serving in a militia. According to the Court, individual self-defense is a basic right and represents the "central component" of the Second Amendment right.

How does the 2nd Amendment affect us today? ›

In recent years, the Supreme Court has dramatically expanded the scope of the Second Amendment to confer an individual right to bear arms. The result has been to expose countless sensible gun laws to constitutional attack, even as the country reels from an epidemic of gun violence.

What might happen without the Second Amendment? ›

Restrictions on gun ownership: Without the Second Amendment, the government might impose stricter regulations on gun ownership. This could include implementing background checks, waiting periods, and licensing requirements for individuals who want to purchase firearms.

Who wrote the Second Amendment? ›

The Second Amendment, ratified in 1791, was proposed by James Madison to allow the creation of civilian forces that can counteract a tyrannical federal government.

What is the most important thing about the Second Amendment? ›

Our Constitution's framers affirmed our right to bear arms through the Second Amendment for an important reason; to provide Americans with means of protection and self-defense.

What would happen if the Second Amendment was repealed? ›

Would repealing the Second Amendment (the right to bear arms) in America have any effect? It would effectively prevent the Law Abiding American Citizens from defending their lives and families from violent criminals.

What has the Supreme Court said the Second Amendment means? ›

Heller, the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess firearms for certain purposes, including at least self-defense in the home. Two years later, in McDonald v. City of Chicago, the Court determined that the right to bear arms is a “fundamental” right.

Does the 2nd Amendment apply to all weapons? ›

And what that test says is, weapons that are in common use (1) by law-abiding citizens, (2) for lawful purposes get second amendment protection. So, weapons that are not in common use by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes presumptively don't have constitutional protection.

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