The Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear “Arms”–not solely “firearms.” While firearms have always been the paradigmatic Second Amendment arm, there are many other types of arms which are protected by the Second Amendment. By far the most common of the other arms are knives. Now at the printer is the first […]
Archive | Right to carry
Georgia Supreme Court Justices on the Second Amendment, Carrying Guns in Public, and Felons
Hertz v. Bennett (Ga. Sup. Ct. Nov. 4, 2013) rejects a Second Amendment objection to the denial of a concealed carry license. The petitioner, the court notes, had pleaded no contest to five felony counts — “three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, one count of shooting from a vehicle, and one count […]
The Strange Career of Mississippi’s Bans on Gun Carrying
A few weeks ago, the Mississippi Supreme Court took another step towards dismantling the state’s legacy of Jim Crow gun control laws. If you had read the Mississippi statutes from that era, they would have seemed quite ordinary in an American context: 1. There was no laws against the open carrying of firearms in most […]
Illinois Supreme Court: Second Amendment Protects Carrying Outside the Home
From today’s unanimous decision in People v. Aguilar (Ill. Sept. 12, 2013): As the Seventh Circuit correctly noted, neither Heller nor McDonald expressly limits the second amendment’s protections to the home. On the contrary, both decisions contain language strongly suggesting if not outright confirming that the second amendment right to keep and bear arms extends […]
Second Amendment Secures Some Right to Carry Loaded Firearms in Public Places
So states State v. Christian (Ore. Aug. 15, 2013): [W]e conclude in the first instance that the ordinance [limited carrying] does, to some extent, burden protected conduct falling within the scope of the Second Amendment’s guarantee. [Footnote: … Although Heller did not define the scope of the right to self-defense outside the home, we read […]
Response to Prof. Rosenkranz: ArmS & the Man – or Arms & the People
By Eugene Kontorovich on July 9, 2013 2:33 pm in Constitutional Amendments, Constitutional Law, Constitutional Theory, Fourth Amendment, Guns, Originalism, Right to carry, Self-Defense
Nick takes issue with my suggestion that the Second Amendment on its face bars laws restricting people to one gun, such as that currently proposed by Gov. Quinn in Illinois. My (first) argument is not an originalist or purposivist one, but rather a purely textual one. The primary meaning of “arms” is plural. Nick argues […]
“A Good Musket” and Bearing Arms
By Eugene Kontorovich on July 8, 2013 11:37 am in Constitutional Amendments, Constitutional Theory, Guns, Militia, Originalism, Right to carry
I’ve been discussing whether the right to bear arms is infringed by laws limiting people to bearing only one “arm”, as a proposal by Illinois Gov. Quinn seeks to do. Perhaps the best evidence for a singular reading of “arms” is the Second Militia Act of 1792, section 1, which provides, in part, that a […]
Is the Right to Bear Arms Plural?
By Eugene Kontorovich on July 8, 2013 10:04 am in Constitutional Amendments, Constitutional Law, Guns, Militia, Originalism, Right to carry, Seventh Circuit, Uncategorized
Tomorrow, Illinois’ concealed carry laws will become ineffective, having been held unconstitutional by the Seventh Circuit several months ago. The Court kept the unconstitutional law on life support for a few months to give the legislature time to craft a replacement measure. Springfield responded, but now that bill has been vetoed by Governor Quinn. If […]
How to stop school shootings right now: Abolish pretend “gun-free zones”
Real gun-free zones (enforced by metal detectors backed up by armed security guards) are fine for certain buildings. Pretend gun-free zones (bans on gun carrying by licensed people, but no procedures to keep out criminal gun carriers, and exacerbated by the absence of armed security) are magnets for mass killers. There is a reason why […]
Goldberg & Kopel on Guns and Gun Control
The December 2012 issue of The Atlantic features a lengthy article by Jeffrey Goldberg, “The Case for More Guns (And More Gun Control).” Though written before the Newton massacre, the article is quite timely and relevant — and provides much food for thought. The VC’s own David Kopel was among those Goldberg interviewed for the […]
Moore v. Madigan, key points
Judge Posner’s opinion for a 2-1 panel of the 7th Circuit. Illinois is the only state which forbids gun carrying in public as a matter of law. There is no provision for the issuance of licenses for concealed carry, or for open carry. Both are banned. There are some exceptions for particular activities (e.g., while […]
Louisiana amendment to strengthen right to arms, on November ballot
By David Kopel on October 3, 2012 7:04 pm in Constitutional Amendments, Constitutional History, Constitutional Law, Elections, Guns, Militia, Popular Constitutionalism, Right to carry, State Constitutional Law
In state elections, the most important vote this November will be in Louisiana. A referendum there would significantly strengthen protection of the right to keep and bear arms in the state, and would set a very significant national precedent. Before the Civil War, the Louisiana Constitution did not mention a right to arms. The Louisiana […]
Amicus brief in Woollard v. Gallagher, Maryland right to bear arms case
Earlier today, I filed an amicus brief in Woollard v. Gallagher, currently scheduled for an expedited hearing around October 23 before the Fourth Circuit. The case is an appeal from the decision of the federal district court that Maryland’s granting of handgun carry permits only to persons who can prove a specific, imminent threat is […]
What Judge Reinhardt missed
Eugene Volokh’s post below discusses a dissent by the Ninth Circuit’s Judge Reinhardt in a capital sentencing case. Judge Reinhardt accurately states that carrying a gun is a Second Amendment right, to make the broader point that carrying a gun is not, in itself, illegitimate behavior. Judge Reinhardt could have strengthened his opinion by citing […]
Colorado Consensus on Gun Laws
In an article today for National Review Online, I detail how “Broadly supported post-Columbine reforms balance gun rights and gun control”: After the Columbine High School murders, Colorado enacted eight specific gun-law reforms. Three of these reforms are examples of what people usually call “gun control,” and five of them are in the “gun rights” […]