Second Amendment Commons^™

A Preliminary Consideration Of Issues Raised In The Firearms Sellers Immunity Bill, Frank J. Vandall

Akron Law Review

Snipings, mass-murders by disgruntled employees, children shooting children, and a vast number of spousal murders are everyday news across the country. In the numerous lawsuits brought by individual victims and over 30 cities, it has been alleged that gun manufacturers and sellers have an important role to play in designing guns to be safer and in closely monitoring gun sales. The courts are weighing these issues and have dismissed a large number of individual and city suits for various reasons. As the Senate debates the Bill (S. 659) that shields those in the gun trade from liability, several issues need …

Questioning The Necessity Of Concealed Carry Laws, William J. Michael

Akron Law Review

The State of Ohio recently became the thirty-seventh state to pass some form of concealed carry legislation, under which persons may carry concealed firearms. Given the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, such legislation appears unnecessary since individuals have a constitutional right to carry firearms.

In this article, I argue that the Second Amendment’s text guarantees an individual’s right (not a state’s right or a “collective” right) to keep and bear firearms. Part I of this article contains that argument. If the text is binding—and I believe it is—further analysis regarding whether the Second Amendment guarantees an individual’s right …

Gonzales V. Raich: How To Fix A Mess Of "Economic" Proportions, Gregory W. Watts

Akron Law Review

The Note examines the history, evolution, elements, and application of the Commerce Clause doctrine. Part II, Sections A through C, concentrate on the history of the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Commerce Clause, focusing extensively on Wickard v. Filburn, which the majority in Raich held controlling, and United States v. Lopez and United States v. Morrison, which the dissent would have held as controlling. Part II, Sections D and E, provide an overview of the Controlled Substances Act, whose constitutionality was challenged as applied in Gonzales v. Raich, and the Compassionate Use Act of California, which led to the conflict …

Statutory Misinterpretations: Small V. United States Darkens The Already Murky Waters Of Statutory Interpretation, Michelle Schuld

Akron Law Review

Part II of this Note will examine the background of this issue by exploring the history and purpose of the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the circuit split arising over the interpretation of the words “any court” under § 922(g)(1). Part III will focus on Small v. United States in detail, including the underlying facts, procedural history, and majority and dissenting opinions. Part IV will analyze this decision and argue that the majority misused canons of statutory interpretation to reach an interpretation that is contrary to the plain meaning of the statute. The section will also discuss the majority’s …

The Second Amendment In The Twenty-First Century: What Hath Heller Wrought?, Patrick J. Charles

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Statutory Restrictions On Concealed Carry: A Five-Circuit Shoot Out, Justine E. Johnson-Makuch

Fordham Law Review

    In District of Columbia v. Heller, the U.S. Supreme Court clarified a citizen’s core Second Amendment right to keep a firearm at home; however, the Court left open the question of how the Second Amendment applies beyond the home. Since Heller, lower courts have struggled to determine the constitutionality of concealed carry laws in light of this new understanding of the Second Amendment.

    Many states have enacted laws that restrict a citizen’s ability to obtain a concealed carry permit, and some of the restrictions are not controversial, such as the requirements to be above a certain age and have a …

Carrying The Second Amendment Outside Of The Home: A Critique Of The Third Circuit's Decision In Drake V. Filko, Ryan Notarangelo

Catholic University Law Review

In D.C. v. Heller, the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s inherent right to keep and bear arms for self-defense-most notably, inside the home. Post-Heller, the lower courts are split on the Second Amendment’s protections outside of the home. This Note addresses the Third Circuit’s opinion on that split. In Drake v. Filko, the Third Circuit addressed whether New Jersey’s concealed carry permit law, which requires an individual to demonstrate a “justifiable need” to carry a handgun outside of the home, violated the Second Amendment. The plaintiffs were …

The Right To Remain Armed, Jeffrey Bellin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The laws governing gun possession are changing rapidly. In the past two years, federal courts have wielded a revitalized Second Amendment to invalidate longstanding gun carrying restrictions in Chicago, the District of Columbia, and throughout California. Invoking similar Second Amendment themes, legislators across the country have steadily deregulated public gun carrying, preempting municipal gun control ordinances in cities like Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Cleveland. These changes to substantive gun laws reverberate through the constitutional criminal procedure framework. By making it lawful for citizens to carry guns even in crowded urban areas, enhanced Second Amendment rights trigger Fourth Amendment protections that could …

Challenging The Political Assumption That “Guns Don’T Kill People, Crazy People Kill People!”, Heath J. Hodges, Mario Scalora

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Every time an infamous mass shooting takes place, a storm of rhetoric sweeps across this country with the fury of a wild fire. “Why are we letting these people carry guns?” “Why were they not hospitalized?” “The government needs to crack down on this issue!” What is the government’s response to these cries of concern? Politicians and the media attempt to ease public fears by drawing tenuous connections among a handful of poorly understood tragedies. The salient commonality is that these high-profile shooters had some history of mental illness. A cursory review of the Internet will paint a troubling picture …

The First Century Of Right To Arms Litigation, David B. Kopel

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines state court cases involving the right to arms, during the first century following ratification of the Amendment in 1791. This is not the first article to survey some of those cases. This Article includes additional cases, and details the procedural postures and facts, not only the holdings. The Article closely examines how the Supreme Court integrated the nineteenth century arms cases into Heller and McDonald to shape modern Second Amendment law.

Part I briefly explains two English cases which greatly influenced American legal understandings. Semayne’s Case is the foundation of “castle doctrine” — the right to home …

Biting The Bullet: Why The Gun Free Schools Act Must Be Repealed To Protect Student Speech, 49 J. Marshall L. Rev. 593 (2015), Aaron Brand

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Kids, Leave The Guns At Home: Why Maryland's 'Good And Substantial Reason' Requirement Comports With Constitutional Aims In The Post-Heller Era, Julia Johnson

Criminal Law Practitioner

No abstract provided.

Disarming The Dangerous: Preventing Extraordinary And Ordinary Violence, M. Fan

Indiana Law Journal

Mass shootings at Navy Yard, Newtown, Aurora, and elsewhere have jolted Congress and the states into considering gun violence prevention. More than 1500 gun-related bills have been introduced since 2013, after the slaughter in Newtown of twenty elementary-school children and six adults. Legislation and debates are shaped by the specter of a heavily armed, mentally ill individual hunting in public places such as schools, businesses, and workplaces. In the states, the most successful type of legislation involves firearms restrictions for the mentally ill. In Congress, the legislation that garnered the most debate was a ban on assault weapons and large-capacity …

Domestic Violence, Gun Possession, And The Importance Of Context, Wesley M. Oliver

Indiana Law Journal

Context is everything.

A federal law prohibits those convicted of committing an act of domestic violence from possessing weapons. 1 This term, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that this statute would apply even to those convicted of crimes that did not necessarily involve violent acts.2 This conclusion strains the ordinary meaning of language, but is quite consistent with a long tradition in criminal cases that favors a pro-government interpretation of a statute when the public welfare is at stake. And domestic violence, Justice Sotomayor stressed in her opinion, has reached epidemic levels, prompting Congress to get guns out of the …

Rwu Law: The Magazine Of Roger Williams University School Of Law (Issue No. 8) (2015), Roger Williams University School Of Law

RWU Law

No abstract provided.

United States V. Castleman: The Meaning Of Domestic Violence, Emily J. Sack

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Firearm Regionalism And Public Carry: Placing Southern Antebellum Case Law In Context, Eric Ruben, Saul A. Cornell

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

In recent years, following the Supreme Court’s landmark originalist opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller, courts have been asked to strike down restrictions on the public carrying of handguns on the basis of the original understanding of the Second Amendment. One of the key sources used to justify this outcome is a family of opinions from the antebellum South asserting an expansive right to carry weapons in public. In this essay we explore whether that body of case law reflected a national consensus on the meaning of the right to bear arms or, in the alternative, a narrower regional …

Hunting And The Second Amendment, Joseph Blocher

Faculty Scholarship

Debates about the meaning and scope of the Second Amendment have traditionally focused on whether it protects the keeping and bearing of arms for self-defense, prevention of tyranny, maintenance of the militia, or some combination of those three things. But roughly half of American gun-owners identify hunting or sport shooting as their primary reason for owning a gun. And while much public rhetoric suggests that these activities fall within the scope of the Second Amendment, some of the most committed gun-rights advocates insist that the Amendment “ain’t about hunting” and that, no matter their heritage and value, such activities are …

New Approaches To Old Questions In Gun Scholarship, Joseph Blocher

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

21st Century Arms Control Challenges: Drones, Cyber Weapons, Killer Robots, And Wmds, Mary Ellen O'Connell

Journal Articles

The world faces tough arms control challenges from preventing the development and use of weapons of mass destruction to regulating the new weapons of the computer revolution. This article considers what works in arms control. Using military force in violation of international law to destroy nuclear facilities, to stop weapons shipments, or to punish the use of prohibited weapons typically fails. Diplomacy paired with lawful counter-measures has the superior track record. Reviving the art of diplomacy and re-committing to authentic international law will pay dividends in peace and security.

The Cost To Carry: New York State’S Regulation On Firearm Registration, David D. Pelaez

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Quiet Army: Felon Firearm Rights Restoration In The Fourth Circuit, Robert Luther Iii

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Most states afford felons the opportunity to have their political disabilities removed or “rights restored” after they are released from incarceration. In every state within the jurisdiction of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, save Virginia, a felon’s rights are partially restored automatically upon the completion of his sentence, parole, and probation. Absent a pardon, Virginia requires the felon to petition the Governor in writing through the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth in order to obtain a partial restoration of rights. One such right that may or may not be restored upon a state-convicted felon’s …

Constitutional Law—Shooting Blanks: Smart Gun Mandates And Their Concomitant Constitutional, Regulatory, Public Policy, And Practical Issues, William F. Godbold Iv

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Our Non-Originalist Right To Bear Arms, Robert Leider

Indiana Law Journal

District of Columbia v. Heller was a landmark, if controversial, opinion. Discussion has centered on the merits of its self-described originalist approach. Supporters praise its efforts to return to a more originalist and textualist approach to constitutional questions, whereas critics challenge the accuracy of Heller’s historical claims and criticize its departure from precedent.

This Article challenges much of the conventional wisdom about Heller, its use of originalism, and its relationship to nineteenth- and twentieth-century case law. This Article argues that, despite much of its rhetoric, Heller actually exemplified popular constitutionalism—not originalism—in the way it approached the most important practical question …

The Constitution And The Individual Right To Possess Firearms: A Different Take, David W. Wise

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Ordered Gun Liberty: Rights With Responsibilities And Regulation, Linda C. Mcclain, James E. Fleming

Faculty Scholarship

This Article focuses on the case of the Second Amendment right to bear arms and gun control to examine whether the Constitution has fostered a pathological rights culture of rights without responsibilities and regulation. We offer some preliminary thoughts about “ordered gun liberty” – the individual right to bear arms in relation to responsibilities, virtues, and regulation. This article addresses a conundrum concerning this right: there is no individual right that cries out more for governmental encouragement of responsibility concerning its exercise and for governmental regulation to promote safety and to protect from harm, and yet there is no individual …

The Tools Of Political Dissent: A First Amendment Guide To Gun Registries, Thomas E. Kadri

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

On December 23, 2012, a newspaper in upstate New York published a provocative map. On it appeared the names and addresses of thousands of gun owners in nearby counties, all precisely pinpointed for the world to browse. The source of this information: publicly available data drawn from the state’s gun registry. Legislators were quick to respond. Within a month, a new law offered gun owners the chance to permanently remove their identities from the registry with a simple call to their county clerk. The map raised interesting questions about broadcasting personal information, but a more fundamental question remains: Are these …

What Will It Take? Terrorism, Mass Murder, Gang Violence, And Suicides: The American Way, Or Do We Strive For A Better Way?, Katherine L. Record, Lawrence O. Gostin

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The assertion that access to firearms makes us safe, rather than increases the likelihood that oneself or a family member will die, is contradicted by a large body of evidence. Gunshots kill more than 30,000 Americans each year. Homicide accounts for approximately one-third of these deaths, with the remainder involving suicides and accidental gun discharges. In fact, firearms put us at greater risk of death than participating in war; in four months, as many Americans were shot dead in the United States as have died fighting in Iraq for an entire decade. Given these grim statistics, it would be reasonable …

The Pitfalls Of The Pittman-Robertson Act: Threats To An American Wildlife Act That Ensnare Hunters And Hikers Alike, Greg Huffaker

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

No abstract provided.

Are Some Rights Wrong?, Megan A. Fenrich

SURGE

“When the time came, I did it. I had to.” – Seung-Hui Cho

Even though it’s been more than six years since April 16, 2007, I still find myself watching the YouTube videos and glimpsing the pictures my parents tried so hard to conceal me from. Words dripping with hatred, guns and other weapons pointed at the viewer. I can understand why my parents didn't want a seventh grader to view these. [excerpt]