The real meaning of the Second Amendment

The meaning of the Second Amendment is fiercely debated between NRA-types and gun-control types. The wording and punctuation of the amendment don’t do much to resolve the debate:

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.

Gun-control types, stressing the first 13 words, argue that the amendment protects the state’s right to have an armed militia. But this argument disregards the phrase “the right of the people.” The NRA-types, meanwhile, argue that the amendment protects the individual’s right to bear arms, but this argument disregards the amendment’s first 13 words and the third comma.

Both sides are wrong. According to law professor Peter Junger,

the right to bear arms is the right to display armorial bearings—coats of arms—and the original plain meaning of the Amendment is that the government shall not infringe upon one’s right to be a lady or a gentleman.

Unfortunately, Prof. Junger died before finishing his thesis. But he did leave behind a draft, which you can find here.

Comments

[Alan Childress]

So the Third Amendment is really against the dismemberment of soldiers into 1/4s?

And Justice Scalia would uphold a Fourth Amendment claim for an illegal search only if brought by an epileptic?

Hmm.

[Aaron]

But I always thought it stood for this: http://www.demopolislive.com/gallery/images/1/large/1_the_right_to_bear_arms.jpg