Right to Bear Arms? Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court & U.S. Supreme Court--Recent Activity
Days ago, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution imposes no limitations on the Massachusetts Legislature to regulate the possession of firearms. See Commonwealth v. Richard Runyan (slip opinion).
The Second Amendment reads,
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
This case brings up the national debate on the right to bear arms and the Second Amendment. Is it a private individual’s right or, in the alternative, is it a State’s right--so the State may maintain a militia to defend itself? Grossly simplifying the theories, if it’s a State’s right, then the States can regulate it. If it’s an individual right, then that leads to a different analysis.
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