OPINION: Interpreting the Second Amendment

Growing concerns among people throughout the United States in response to increasing numbers of mass shootings and high rates of other firearm-related deaths and injuries has intensified debates about the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Many firearm owners have expressed concerns about preserving their Second Amendment rights.

Repealing the Second Amendment or any constitutional amendment would be extremely difficult. It would require a two-thirds vote of the U.S. House and Senate and ratification by three-fourths of the states. That could not happen any time soon, if ever.

So, what options do firearm safety advocates have for passing gun reform laws?

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June 2008 provides some guidance on this issue. In the District of Columbia vs. Heller decision, the Court affirmed “an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia.” This 5-4 majority decision was written by the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

However, Section 2 of this decision included the following statements. “Like most rights, the Second Amendment rights are not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose. For example, concealed weapons prohibitions have been upheld under the Amendment or state analogues. The Court’s opinion should not be to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carry of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and public buildings, or laws imposing conditions on qualifications of commercial sale of arms. Miller’s holding (United States vs Miller decision ‘1939′) that sorts of weapons protected are those ‘in common use of the time’ finds support in the historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of dangerous and unusual weapons.”

It appears that the ‘Heller’ Supreme Court decision affirmed the individual right to possess firearms, but left open the possibilities of federal, state or local laws to promote firearm safety without violating the Second Amendment.

Mark S. Johnson retired from a career in public health and health service administration. He lives in Juneau and has lived in Alaska for 45 years.

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