ABSTRACT
The Second Amendment is strangely phrased and, for most of American history, its meaning was thought to be somewhat murky. Legal analysts, political scientists, and historians long debated whether the first two clauses of the Second Amendment, “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state,” modified or limited the straightforward declaration of the last two phrases, “the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” If the first two phrases do modify and limit the second two, then perhaps the people only have a constitutional right to keep and bear arms consequent to militia service. But if the first two clauses of the Second Amendment do not express limits, then the right to keep and bear arms is much more full and stark.
