The Second Amendment Third-Year Law – Class 6

Reminder: Midterm exam on week 8 Previous exams on the website, under “Resources.” Three different exercises: 1) Complete 5 sentences: use between 15 and 25 words for each sentence and do not start a new sentence. 2) Answer three questions on a press article, 100 words each. 3) Choose one out of two essays, write 250 words. If you are absent, email me before the exam and we will find a time for a make-up exam that same week. If you do not have a doctor’s note, you will fail the exam.

Questions about last class What are the two clauses concerning freedom of religion in the United States? What does the Establishment clause prohibit in American schools? What changed with the landmark decision Employment Division v. Smith (1990)? Did the 2007 pharmacy board regulations violate the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment?

The Second Amendment “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.”

An individual or collective right? Gun rights supporters (the National Rifle Association) Gun control advocates (the Brady Campaign).

Supreme Court decisions U.S. v. Miller (1939): the Second Amendment does not protect the right to keep and bear a sawed-off double barrel shotgun. District of Columbia v. Heller (2008): the Second Amendment protects the right to possess a firearm unconnected with service and to use it for lawful purposes (self-defense within a home) in Washington D.C. McDonald v. Chicago (2010): the Second Amendment was incorporated. Caetano v. Massachusetts (2016): stun guns are constitutionally protected. Shew v. Malloy (2016): Connecticut can prohibit semiautomatic assault weapons.

Gun Laws and State Constitutions Only one federal law about gun control: the Federal Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990. The majority of gun legislation is enacted at the state level. As a consequence, there are great variations regarding permits, gun sales and licensing, self-defense and gun carry laws.

Open-carry and concealed-carry laws

Other laws Licensing laws: the requirement of a permit to purchase, possess, and register guns. “Shoot first” or Stand Your Ground Laws: the right to self-defense using deadly force, in public, and with no duty to retreat. Background checks are required of licensed dealers before selling a weapon. These do not apply to private sales. Safety device requirements are now mandatory.

Presidential Executive Orders Closing background check loopholes. Banning military-style assault weapons. Making schools and communities safer. Increasing access to mental health services. Improving gun safety technology.

Complete the sentences Pursuant to the Second Amendment’s wording, there has been a historic debate around the interpretation of this text, between the necessity to protect communities from gun violence and an individual’s right to bear arms. Unlike gun control advocates who consider that the Second Amendment guarantees a collective right, gun rights supporters consider the right to keep and bear arms as an ‘individual’ right. Although there is no federal law prohibiting citizens from carrying firearms for protection or other lawful purposes - with a limited exception in the Federal Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990-, states may enact legislation pertaining to permits, licensing and gun carry laws. In the case District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm, enforceable in the District of Columbia, for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home. Background checks enable states to have a form of gun control as they can trace and identify persons who have purchased guns.

District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) 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. This may include weapons that did not exist in 1791. There is no specific limit on the type of weapon The Court’s opinion should not cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.

Shew v. Malloy (2016) Connecticut's law was passed after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012, when 20 students and six educators were killed. The shooter fired 154 rounds with devastating accuracy and efficiency with a firearm that was designed for killing human beings in close quarters, an AR-15 type rifle. According to Attorney General George Jepsen, the law was restricting access "to firearms that are owned by a small percentage of gun owners and are disproportionately used in gun crime, particularly the most heinous forms of gun violence”. It is not targeting ‘law abiding citizens’ who use gun ownership in a legal way.

Shew v. Malloy (2016) - 2 Gun rights supporters say that lower courts are not heeding Supreme Court precedent and gun control activists say they are pushing for what they consider reasonable restrictions. The state law bans certain semi-automatic assault weapons and large capacity magazines.

Grammar exercises Exercise 1: 1. neither / nor 2. no /any 3. None 4. neither/nor/no 5. no 6. Any/any/any 7. no 8. neither/nor Exercise 2: 1. nowhere 2. nobody 3. anything 4. nothing 5. anywhere 6. anybody

Homework for next week The Fourth Amendment Read the lesson (ps. 51-52) and learn the important words by heart. Complete the sentences (p. 53). Read Text 1 (ps. 54-55) and Text 2 (ps. 55-56). Two presentations: - “Justices Allow DNA Collection After an Arrest” - “Supreme Court Says Phones Can’t Be Searched Without a Warrant”

Homework for the week after the exam The Fifth Amendment Read the lesson (ps. 63-67) and learn the important words by heart. Complete the sentences (p. 68). Read Text 1 (p. 68-69) and Text 3 (ps. 71-72). Two presentations: - “Supreme Court Says Double Jeopardy Does Not Protect Against Murder Trial” - “California Supreme Court Cuts Back Fifth Amendment Right to Remain Silent When Questioned by Police”