The Second Amendment By: Reed Goebel and Tom Fleming 1 st period

What is the Second Amendment? Well the second amendment is the right to bear arms. “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.” as said in the Constitution

History It was adopted on December 15, It was ratified by ¾ of the states of the time. Sir William Blackstone created it. It was placed in the Bill of Rights to keep the government under control.

Continued… The first major effort to eliminate private ownership of firearms came with the National Firearms Act of President Woodrow Wilson signs the National Defense Act into law. Congress passes the National Firearms Act, imposing a $200 per gun tax on the sale of sawed-off shotguns and machine guns.(1934)

Continued… President Lyndon Johnson signs the Federal Gun Control Act in law. (1968) President Ronald Reagan signs the Law Enforcement Officers Protection Act, making it illegal to make or import armor piercing bullets. (1986)

Facts Personal self-defense is the primary purpose of the Second Amendment The Second Amendment exists to prevent tyranny The second amendment right extends outside of the home The government cannot overturn this amendment.

The Second Amendment was listed in a Supreme Court ruling as an individual right. The Second Amendment codifies a pre-existing right The Second Amendment protects individual, not collective rights Every citizen is the militia

As you can see by this chart the United States has far more guns than other countries This shows us that the 2 nd Amendment is very loose and lets every person own a firearm

U.S. vs. Cruikshank (1876) The first Second Amendment case to reach the Supreme Court. In brief, following precedent, the court stated the Bill of Rights only applied as a limitation on the National government. Individuals could not file charges against other citizens in federal court regarding violations of their constitutional rights. It was up to the states to protect the fundamental rights of its citizens when their rights were abridged by other citizens.

Presser vs. People of Illinois (1886) Herman Presser was found guilty of parading a group of armed men without authorization in the state of Illinois. The defendant claimed Illinois law violated provisions in the Constitution including the Second Amendment. The Presser court expressed the opinion that the states were prohibited from disarming "all citizens capable of bearing arms"

Miller vs. Texas (1894) Franklin Miller, convicted of murder, on appeal, claimed his Second and Fourth Amendment rights had been violated under the Fourteenth Amendment. The court upholding the conviction, reaffirmed Cruikshank v. U.S. and stated: "And if the fourteenth amendment limited the power of the states as to such rights, as pertaining to citizens of the United States, we think it was fatal to this claim that it was not set up in the trial court."

Robertson vs. Baldwin (1897) The petition set forth, in substance, that the petitioners were unlawfully restrained of their liberty by Barry Baldwin. Shortly thereafter they sued out this writ of habeas corpus, which, upon a hearing before the district court, was dismissed, and an order made remanding the prisoners to the custody of the marshal.

U.S. vs. Miller (1939) United States v. Miller involved a criminal prosecution under the National Firearm Act of 1934 (NFA). Passed in response to public outcry over the St. Valentine Day Massacre, the NFA requires certain types of firearms to be registered with the Miscellaneous Tax Unit which at the time was part of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Defendants Miller and Layton filed a demurrer challenging the relevant section of the National Firearms Act as an unconstitutional violation of the Second Amendment.

Lewis vs. U.S. (1980) Title VII of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 forbids the possession of firearms by a convicted felon. Lewis, the petitioner, was convicted of a felony in a 1961 state court "for breaking and entering with intent to commit a misdemeanor". In 1977, in Virginia, Lewis was charged with receiving and possessing a firearm in violation of the above act. Lewis, claimed his latest conviction violated the Fifth and Sixth Amendments because he had no counsel present during his 1961 trial.

Burton vs. Sills (1985) It originated when members of sportsman clubs and gun dealers brought an action to declare unconstitutional the state's gun-control law, which imposed restrictive requirements. Conjuring up an image of "political assassinations, killings of enforcement officers, and snipings during riots," the court expressed exaggerated fears of a revolution. The New Jersey Supreme Court restricted the definition of militia to "the active, organized militias of the states,"

U.S. vs. Verdugo-Urquidez (1990) This case dealt with whether nonresident aliens, located in a foreign country, were entitled to Fourth Amendment rights. The Court ruled they were not. Therefore the Court viewed "the people" in the Second Amendment to have the same meaning as in the First, Fourth, Ninth, and Tenth amendments.

District of Columbia vs. Heller (2008) Provisions of the District of Columbia Code made it illegal to carry an unregistered firearm and prohibited the registration of handguns, though the chief of police could issue one-year licenses for handguns. Dick Anthony Heller was a D.C. special police officer who was authorized to carry a handgun while on duty. He applied for a one-year license for a handgun he wished to keep at home, but his application was denied.

McDonald vs. Chicago (2010) Several suits were filed against Chicago and Oak Park in Illinois challenging their gun bans after the Supreme Court issued its opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller. In that case, the Supreme Court held that a District of Columbia handgun ban violated the Second Amendment. Here, plaintiffs argued that the Second Amendment should also apply to the states.

Debate… Is prohibiting gun ownership compatible with the 2nd Amendment?

That’s all Keep the government away from you using the second amendment.

Bibliography ews/the-fix/wp/2015/10/08/how-to- argue-about-gun-control/ amendment tml