Natural law and self-defense, or the natural right of self-defense, was recognized by Blackstone and the Framers
This natural law basis was referenced a total of seven times in the majority opinion and the dissent in D.C. v. Heller, which was the landmark 5-4 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of a strong Second Amendment.
Court majority reference #1
| “ | Justice James Wilson interpreted the Pennsylvania Constitution's arms-bearing right, for example, as a recognition of the natural right of defense "of one's person or house"--what he called the law of "self preservation." 2 Collected Works of James Wilson 1142, and n x (K. Hall & M. Hall eds. 2007) (citing Pa. Const., Art. IX, § 21 (1790)); see also T. Walker, Introduction to American Law 198 (1837) ("Thus the right of self-defence [is] guaranteed by the [Ohio] constitution"); see also id., at 157 (equating Second Amendment with that provision of the Ohio Constitution). That was also the interpretation of those state constitutional provisions adopted by pre-Civil War state courts. These provisions demonstrate--again, in the most analogous linguistic context--that "bear arms" [***654] was not limited to the carrying of arms in a militia. | ” |
District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 585-86, 128 S. Ct. 2783, 2793-94 (2008) (footnote omitted).