Court Cases Proving the Second Amendment to be an Indiviual Right

Since the beginning of the United States, guns have been owned and collected by millions of citizens across the country. In the constitution, the second amendment states, “the right of the people to keep and bare arms shall not be infringed.” Furthermore, with the introduction of guns capable of mass destruction, many people believe the purchase, possession, and transportation of firearms should be regulated. However, these new laws may infringe a person’s right to keep and bare arms. In many court cases, the second amendment is used to protect an individual’s right to keep and bare firearms. The first case that granted the second amendment as an individual right was the Heller v. District of Columbia case. According to an article done by Oyez, Dick Anthony Heller was a special police officer in the D.C. area. After his neighborhood had turned into a crime stricken area, Heller decided he should have a personal firearm to use as his self-defense. However, due to the Firearms Control Regulations act of 1975, Heller’s application to own a personal weapon was denied. Heller then decided to sue the District of Columbia because he believed this act was unconstitutional. This law was put into place because people believed that only people in the military should be allowed to own firearms. However, this act was deemed unconstitutional because it infringed the second amendment. The court determined that the word militia does not entirely mean military personnel. Therefore, this law was struct down and Heller was able to own a weapon because the second amendment was deemed an induvial right.