1. Right to Keep and Bear Arms
A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
The principal debate surrounding the Second Amendment has been whether the right to use and buy guns belongs to individuals or only to a militia.
Starting in 2008, the Supreme Court accepted the view that Americans have the right to arm themselves for personal use in their home and applied it to federal, state and local laws.
The courts have permitted the government to limit some rights of gun manufacturers, owners and sellers.
Today, questions about the Second Amendment center on bans on assault weapons, mandatory background checks, waiting periods, and other restrictions on gun sales or use and gun control legislation varies widely among the fifty states.
Some believe that the "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms" creates an individual constitutional right for citizens of the United States ("individual right theory”) and some point to the prefatory language "a well regulated Militia" to argue that the Framers intended only to restrict Congress from legislating away a state's right to self-defense ("the collective rights theory“).
A collective rights theory asserts that citizens do not have an individual right to possess guns and that legislative bodies possess the authority to regulate firearms.