What Does the US Supreme Court Say About Guns?

 

The Second Amendment¹ of the U.S. Constitution says: “A well regulated Militia², being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed³.”

What these words mean, exactly, is disputed in the United States. Even the Supreme⁴ Court, whose job it is to interpret the Constitution, has disagreed. The issue is whether the federal government can place restrictions⁵ on who owns guns and how people use them.

In the Court’s 200-plus-year history, it has ruled on cases related to the Second Amendment several times – and its answer to what the Amendment means has recently changed.

U.S. v. Cruikshank, 1876

The Second Amendment was adopted in 1791, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights. About 80 years later, an event prompted the Supreme Court to clarify it. A group of white supremacists in Louisiana attacked and killed more than 100 African American men.

Later, the white supremacists were charged -- not with murder, but with violating the victims’ constitutional rights.

In time, the Supreme Court heard the case. The lawyers’ arguments covered many issues. But in deciding the case, the justices said something important about the Second Amendment. They said the Constitution did not guarantee every person the right to have a gun.

Instead, the justices agreed, state laws could regulate gun ownership, as long as citizens could form a militia if they needed to.

The white supremacists won their case and were not punished.

Presser v. Illinois, 1886; Miller⁶ v. Texas, 1894; U.S. v. Miller, 1939

In the next decades, the Supreme Court affirmed its earlier decision. It said the state of Illinois had the right to prevent ordinary citizens from carrying weapons in a parade.

In another case, a man in Texas argued that his state law could not prevent him from carrying a hidden weapon. The Supreme Court said it could.

And in the early 20th century, two men said the Second Amendment protected their right to bring an unregistered, sawed-off shotgun from one state to another. The justices disagreed. They said the “obvious purpose” of the Second Amendment was to support a state’s volunteer army, its militia. A sawed-off shotgun did not have a “reasonable relationship” to the militia, the justices said. And, as such, policies restricting the weapon were just fine.

District of Columbia v. Heller, 2008

More than 70 years passed. Then, in 2008, the Supreme Court ruled again on a gun-related case. And this time, its answer was very different.

The case involved a man named Dick Heller. He lived in Washington, D.C., and was permitted to carry a gun at his job as a security guard. At the time, Washington, D.C., was considered very dangerous. Heller wanted to keep a handgun in his home for self-defense. District lawmakers said no.

They pointed⁷ to a 1975 district law that banned most people from having handguns. Lawmakers said the goal of the law was to prevent an increase in gun violence. But Heller argued that the district’s ban on handguns violated his Second Amendment rights.

This time, the Supreme Court agreed. Five out of nine justices said the Second Amendment said the Constitution did guarantee most people the right to have a gun, at least for protection in their homes. Guns did not have to be connected to a militia, after all.

McDonald v. City of Chicago, 2010

Two years later, the Supreme Court ruled on a similar case. This time, a man argued that the city of Chicago could not prevent him from having a handgun. Five out of nine justices agreed with him, too.

So what changed?

The recent Supreme Court decisions show a major change in thinking about the Second Amendment. Gun ownership in the U.S. is now considered the individual right of each person, rather than the collective right of militias⁸.

And the Second Amendment now protects gun owners from many state and local laws that restrict gun ownership and use.

Michael Trachtman is a lawyer and the author of a book about the Supreme Court. He points out that, over time, the Supreme Court has reversed decisions on a number of issues, including same-sex marriage and abortion⁹.

Trachtman says, “The history of the law is the evolution of the law.”

He notes that over time, decisions the public accepted in the 1800s may not fit with ideas in the 20th or 21st century.

“Or there may simply be disagreements between justices today and justices five or 10 years ago,” Trachtman says.

In the case of the Second Amendment, gun rights activists¹⁰ have also played an important part. Scholars Eric Ruben and Darrell Miller wrote in 2016 about the issue. They say that in the 1970s, researchers looked for historical sources supporting a different understanding of the Second Amendment. At the time, their ideas were not widely accepted. But eventually some other scholars adopted the view. And gun rights activists began challenging cases related to the Second Amendment in court.

In the early 2000s, activists focused some of their political efforts on the Heller case. The National Rifle Association – or NRA – especially organized supporters to explain to the Supreme Court justices why they should defend a constitutional right to gun ownership.

The NRA’s efforts were combined with activism from libertarians – people who want to severely¹¹ limit the role of government.

Their arguments, along with some of the justices’ own understanding of the Constitution, helped change more than 130 years of legal history.

I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.

And I'm Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

interpret - v. to explain or tell the meaning of

prompt - v. to cause someone to do something

clarify - v. to make something clearer

white supremacist - n. a person who believes that the white race is better than all other races and should have control over all other races

affirm - v. to decide that the judgment¹² of another court is correct

sawed-off - adj. with a short barrel

obvious - adj. easy for the mind to understand or recognize

evolution - n. a process of slow change and development

1 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

2 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

3 infringed   

v.违反（规章等）( infringe的过去式和过去分词 )；侵犯（某人的权利）；侵害（某人的自由、权益等）

参考例句：

• Wherever the troops went, they never infringed on the people's interests. 大军过处，秋毫无犯。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He was arrested on a charge of having infringed the Election Law. 他因被指控触犯选举法而被拘捕。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

5 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

6 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

7 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

8 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

9 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

10 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

12 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。