The Second Amendment: Meaning, Intent, Interpretation, and Consequences

Any consideration of the gun control debate inevitably turns to questions of the Constitution and the law. This quotation from the constitutional scholar Lucilius Emery illustrates that the two are inextricably linked:

The greater deadliness of small firearms easily carried upon the person, the alarming frequency of homicides and felonious assaults with such arms, the evolution of a distinct class of criminals known as “gunmen” . . . are now pressing home the question of the reason, scope, and limitation on the constitutional guaranty of a right to keep and bear arms.1