News Article
Today, 10 states c riminalize the possession of rifles that the American people choose the most often for self-defense, target shooting and hunting. State officials openly flaunt the Second Amendment’s protection of the “right of the people to keep and bear arms.” In the courts, they gaslight U.S. Supreme Court precedent and pretend to uphold it.
The judges upholding such laws have betrayed the Founders’ vision. In The Federalist No. 46, James Madison heralded “the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation,” in contrast with “the several kingdoms of Europe,” where “the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.” And when Madison proposed what became the Second Amendment, Tench Coxe (1755-1824) explained, “As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize … the people are confirmed … in their right to keep and bear their private arms.”
In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the Supreme Court held that “the Second Amendment extends, prima facie, to all instruments that constitute bearable arms, even those that were not in existence at the time of the founding.” Further, it protects “arms ‘in common use at the time’ for lawful purposes like self-defense” and arms that are “typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes … .”
