Scholars say the individual-right view of the Second Amendment is not new.

1 independent outlets are covering this story. Verification: Watching — single-source — not yet independently corroborated. Patriot Watch links to original reporting; we don't republish it.

Read the story at Bearing Arms →

What we know

Scholars say the individual-right view of the Second Amendment is not a recent development. The interpretation has historical roots according to their analysis.

Patriot Watch first flagged this story 3 hr ago, when Bearing Arms reported it. So far this remains a single-source report. The most recent report came 3 hr ago from Bearing Arms. Verification tier: Watching — single-source — not yet independently corroborated.

⚖ The Constitutional Angle

District of Columbia v. Heller held that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with militia service, for lawful purposes like self-defense in the home. McDonald v. City of Chicago applied that right against the states. The scholars' claim that the individual-right view is longstanding mirrors Heller's own reasoning that the right was understood at the founding as belonging to each person.

District of Columbia v. Heller 554 U.S. 570 (2008)

Vote: 5-4 · Opinion: Scalia

The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia and to use it for traditionally lawful purposes such as self-defense within the home. The right is not unlimited: the Court noted that longstanding prohibitions (e.g., possession by felons and the mentally ill, carrying in sensitive places, conditions on commercial sale) remain presumptively lawful. D.C.'s ban on handgun possession in the home and its requirement that lawful firearms in the home be kept nonfunctional violate the Second Amendment.

McDonald v. City of Chicago, Illinois 561 U.S. 742 (2010)

Vote: 5-4 · Opinion: Alito

The Second Amendment right recognized in Heller is fully applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. A four-Justice plurality incorporated the right via the Due Process Clause as fundamental to the Nation's scheme of ordered liberty and deeply rooted in its history and tradition; Justice Thomas supplied the fifth vote via the Privileges or Immunities Clause. The Seventh Circuit's judgment upholding Chicago's and Oak Park's handgun bans was reversed and remanded.

Precedent facts from the PW Law Library — primary-source verified & independently audited