Changes

The '''Second Amendment''' to the [[United States Constitution]] states:<ref>This is the most-often quoted form of this Amendment, but note later in this entry the significant objection to including three commas rather than just one.</ref>

The '''Second Amendment''' to the [[United States Constitution]] states:<ref>This is the most-often quoted form of this Amendment, but note later in this entry the significant objection to including three commas rather than just one.</ref>

{{cquote|'''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.'''}}

{{cquote|'''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.'''}}

 

== Individual or Collective Right? ==

== Individual or Collective Right? ==

For several decades, the lower federal courts had interpreted the Second Amendment as protecting merely a collective right of state militias.<ref>http://www.davekopel.com/2A/LawRev/35finalpartone.htm</ref> However, the [[U.S Supreme Court]] has always called it an individual right. The 2008 Supreme Court decision of ''[[District of Columbia v. Heller]]'' ruled 5–4 that the Second Amendment protects an individual right. This decision was expanded upon in ''[[McDonald v. Chicago]]'' two years later, which ruled that Second Amendment applies to protect individual rights against state and city laws also.

For several decades, the lower federal courts had interpreted the Second Amendment as protecting merely a collective right of state militias.<ref>http://www.davekopel.com/2A/LawRev/35finalpartone.htm</ref> However, the [[U.S Supreme Court]] has always called it an individual right. The 2008 Supreme Court decision of ''[[District of Columbia v. Heller]]'' ruled 5–4 that the Second Amendment protects an individual right. This decision was expanded upon in ''[[McDonald v. Chicago]]'' two years later, which ruled that Second Amendment applies to protect individual rights against state and city laws also.