NRA Files Amicus in DC vs. Heller

Read the entire brief at this link.

In adopting the Second Amendment, the Framers
guaranteed an individual right to keep and bear
arms for private purposes, not a collective right to
keep and bear arms only in connection with state
militia service. This is clear from the text of the
Amendment itself, which guarantees “the right of the
people to keep and bear Arms.” Throughout the
Constitution, individual rights are guaranteed to
“the people”; when the Framers refer to a power of a
State, they refer, unsurprisingly, to “the States.”

Aw yeah.  I don’t have a whole lot commentary, I haven’t read the brief yet in its entirety.  Once I get some downtime over the weekend to read the complete brief, I’ll have further commentary.

1 Comment

  1. The best part, where they argue that the text of the 2A preamble supports the application of strict scrutiny:

    ‘As the Framers made clear in the very text of the
    Second Amendment, they considered the right to
    keep and bear arms “necessary to the security of a
    free State.” Under this Court’s First Amendment
    jurisprudence, this explicit connection between the
    right to keep and bear arms and the preservation of
    democratic self-government compels a conclusion
    that the Amendment guarantees a “fundamental”
    right.’

    Nice to see the preamble used as it was intended — to inform the value of the protected right.

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