which amendment is central to understanding the debate concerning the right to bear arms
The Second Amendment
title: Right to keep and bear arms in the United States text: Right to keep and bear arms in the United States The right to keep and bear arms in the United States is a fundamental right protected by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, part of the Bill of Rights, and by the constitutions of most U.S. states. The Second Amendment declares: In the United States, which has an English common law tradition, the concept of a right to keep and bear arms was recognized prior to the creation of a written national constitution. When colonists in the Thirteen Colonies rebelled against British control during the American Revolution they title: United States Bill of Rights text: by this clause, the Court has also ruled that the amendment implicitly protects freedom of association. The Second Amendment protects the individual right to keep and bear arms. The concept of such a right existed within English common law long before the enactment of the Bill of Rights. First codified in the English Bill of Rights of 1689 (but there only applying to Protestants), this right was enshrined in fundamental laws of several American states during the Revolutionary era, including the 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights and the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776. Long a controversial issue in American political, legal, title: Gitlow v. New York text: v. Oregon", 299 U.S. 353 (1937), "Wolf v. Colorado", 338 U.S. 25 (1949), and "Gideon v. Wainwright", 372 U.S. 335 (1963), to extend the reach of the Bill of Rights. Constitutional scholars refer to this as the "incorporation doctrine," meaning that the Supreme Court has identified rights specified in the Bill of Rights and "incorporated" them into the liberties covered by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Recently, the Supreme Court, see, "McDonald v. Chicago", found the 2nd Amendment Right to "...keep and bear arms," for lawful purposes such as self-defense both a fundamental and individual right of title: Right to keep and bear arms in the United States text: or whether such rights (if any) are implicitly protected by the states' constitutions or by the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment, remains a matter of dispute. However, since the SCOTUS has "fully incorporated" the 2nd and 14th Amendments in their 2010 opinion and order in "McDonald v. City of Chicago", the right to keep and bear arms is "fully applicable" to the states and limits the states on any and all regulations and restrictions they choose to take, and federal Constitutional rights take precedence over state, local and other laws that regulate to "Right of Lawful Citizens to keep and bear title: Second Amendment to the United States Constitution text: that it would never happen. Elizabeth Wydra, president of the Constitutional Accountability Center, says that Stevens's comments were "staggeringly misplaced" and could set back demands for gun control. She also said an attempt at repeal would be "a daunting task" likely to fail. Second Amendment to the United States Constitution The Second Amendment (Amendment II) to the United States Constitution protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms and was adopted on December 15, 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights. The Supreme Court ruled in the 2008 "Heller" decision that the right belongs to individuals