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The Second Amendment: Structure, History, And Constitutional Change, David S. Yassky

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Part I of the Article engages the revisionists squarely on the turf they have staked out: the intent of those who framed and ratified the Second Amendment. Here I credit the revisionists with some important insights. Their research reminds us how greatly the world in which the Second Amendment was adopted differed from our own. This perspective helps us understand how the Founders could have placed the right to bear arms on par with the right to free speech--a decision that baffles many modern Americans. Yet while the revisionists correctly perceive that the right to keep and bear arms was …

Crimes And Offenses Offenses Against Public Order And Safety: Change Penalty Provisions Applicable To The Offense Of Furnishing A Pistol To A Person Under The Age Of 18; Change The Penalty Provisions Applicable To The Offense Of Unlawful Possession Of Firearms Or Weapons; Change The Penalty Provisions Applicable To A Second Or Subsequent Offenses Of Carrying A Concealed Weapon; Change The Penalty Provisions Applicable To Carrying Certain Weapons Within A School Safety Zone; Change The Penalty Provisions Applicable To Possession Of A Firearm By A Convicted Felon; Change The Penalty Provisions Applicable To Possession Of A Firearm By A Person Under 18; Provide That It Is A Felony For A Person Convicted Of Or On First Offender Probation For A Forcible Felony To Attempt To Purchase A Firearm, Seth Kirby

Georgia State University Law Review

The Act increases the minimum penalty for furnishing a pistol or a revolver to a minor from two to three years. The Act also increases the minimum sentence for unlawful possession of firearms from one to five years and raises the minimum sentence for carrying a concealed weapon to two years. The Act increases the minimum sentence for carrying specified weapons into a school zone. Further, the Act makes it a felony for a person convicted of a forcible felony to attempt to obtain a firearm and increases the penalty for these individuals for possessing a firearm. Finally, the Act …

Panelist (Symposium: The Second Amendment), David S. Yassky

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

To understand the Second Amendment and what the Founders who wrote it were trying to do, you have to understand the conceptual framework that they were working in. And that conceptual framework is based on two concepts regarding the military: the concept of the army and the concept of the militia.

The Second Amendment is about how the military power of the United States should be organized. It grew out of one of the most pretentious issues faced by the Philadelphia Convention, which was: what military power should they give this new Federal Government? They're sitting down to write the …