Also known as: rights to bear arms · second amendment · 2nd amendment right
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A constitutional right protected by the Second Amendment that entitles individuals to keep and bear arms for lawful purposes, with particular emphasis on self-defense within the home. Total bans on handgun possession in the home and requirements that firearms be rendered inoperable for immediate defensive use are invalid. The right applies against the states through the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause.
Rosa Ruiz keeps a loaded handgun in her bedside drawer for protection after prior break-ins at her apartment. City officials enact a rule forbidding all handguns in residential units and requiring any long guns to be stored in locked ground-floor boxes overnight. Rosa challenges the rule in court. The court strikes down the restrictions because they eliminate her ability to maintain a functional firearm for immediate self-defense in her home.
Roberto Reyes resides in a state that bans handgun possession in apartments. He sues in federal court after police seize his handgun kept for home defense. The court applies the Second Amendment directly to the state measure. The ban falls because the right to keep arms for self-defense in the home binds state and local governments.
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Ravi Reddy, a state sheriff, refuses to perform federal background checks on handgun purchasers under a new national law. He argues the mandate commandeers state officers. The court invalidates the federal requirement on federalism grounds while noting that the underlying individual right to possess arms remains intact and enforceable.
Ryan Roberts applies for a permit to carry a handgun outside his home for self-defense after receiving threats. State officials deny the permit under a discretionary licensing scheme. The court evaluates the denial against historical traditions of firearm regulation. The scheme is struck down because it lacks grounding in the nation's historical tradition of regulating arms.
Regina Robinson challenges a federal agency rule that imposes storage requirements on handguns kept in homes near schools. She contends the agency lacked proper legislative guidance when issuing the rule. The court examines whether the delegation complies with constitutional limits on agency authority while preserving the core right to armed self-defense.
Roland Rhodes faces prosecution under a state handgun ban after keeping a firearm in his residence for protection. He argues the state law violates a federal constitutional guarantee. The court considers whether the right to bear arms is among the liberties protected against state action through the Fourteenth Amendment.
Yes. The Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms for lawful purposes, with special emphasis on self-defense in the home. A total ban on handgun possession in the home is unconstitutional because handguns are in common use for that purpose.
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Yes. The Second Amendment right is incorporated against the states through the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause. Most provisions of the Bill of Rights, including this one, bind state and local actors.
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Regulations are constitutional only if consistent with the nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation. Interest-balancing tests such as intermediate scrutiny are rejected in this context.
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…protected a range of specific individual rights against federal infringement, it did not, with the possible exception of the Second Amendment, offer any similarly specific protections to areas of state sovereignty. [^maj-22]: To the contrary, we have always recognized that while the federal commerce power may overlap the…