Second Amendment Rights And Powers In Middlesex
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In short, the Second Amendment states that as an American citizen, you have the individual right to arm yourself. The amendment also firmly establishes that the government cannot infringe on that right.
Age Limitations: The right to bear arms is limited to individuals who are at least 18 years of age for long guns and 21 years of age for handguns. Federal law prohibits the sale of firearms to individuals under these age limits, and many states have enacted similar restrictions.
Importantly, the Supreme Court has clearly stated that the Second Amendment does not protect assault weapons. District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 624-25, 627-28 (2008).
“The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.”
A 5–4 majority ruled that the language and history of the Second Amendment showed that it protects a private right of individuals to have arms for their own defense, not a right of the states to maintain a militia.
Heller, the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess firearms for certain purposes, including at least self-defense in the home. Two years later, in McDonald v. City of Chicago, the Court determined that the right to bear arms is a “fundamental” right.
Age Limitations: The right to bear arms is limited to individuals who are at least 18 years of age for long guns and 21 years of age for handguns. Federal law prohibits the sale of firearms to individuals under these age limits, and many states have enacted similar restrictions.
Age Limitations: The right to bear arms is limited to individuals who are at least 18 years of age for long guns and 21 years of age for handguns. Federal law prohibits the sale of firearms to individuals under these age limits, and many states have enacted similar restrictions.
The Second Amendment protects arms, not firearms,6 and in Heller, the Supreme Court defined an arm as any “weapon of offence” or “thing that a man wears for his defence, or takes into his hands,” that is “carried . . . for the purpose of 'offensive or defensive action.
Forty-four states have a provision in their state constitutions similar to the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which protects the right to keep and bear arms. The exceptions are California, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, and New York.
