Second Amendment

Introduction

• Why did the Founding generation enshrine the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights?
• What was the Founding-era vision of the Second Amendment, and how did America’s “Second Founding”—and the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment after the Civil War—shape the Second Amendment’s meaning?
• How has the Supreme Court interpreted the Second Amendment over time?
• Today, when can the government limit the individual right to possess guns and other firearms—and when can’t it?
• What are areas of constitutional debate over the Second Amendment today?