Also known as: right to keep and bear arms · Second Amendment · right to bear arms
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An individual right secured by the Second Amendment that protects the possession and carrying of firearms for lawful purposes, particularly self-defense in the home. The right extends to public carry for self-defense when consistent with the nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation. Total bans on handguns in the home and requirements that firearms be rendered inoperable for immediate defensive use violate the right.
Kurtis Kaiser lives in a city apartment and keeps a loaded handgun in his bedside drawer after prior break-ins. The city enacts an ordinance banning all handgun possession in residences and requiring any long guns to remain disassembled. Kurtis sues to enjoin the ordinance. The court invalidates the measure because it eliminates the ability to maintain operable arms for immediate self-defense in the home.
Kiana Kwan, a resident of a state that incorporated the Second Amendment, seeks to carry a handgun openly for self-defense while walking in her neighborhood at night. State law prohibits all public carry without a permit that officials refuse to issue. Kiana files suit claiming the restriction infringes her right. The court applies the incorporated protection and strikes down the outright prohibition as inconsistent with historical tradition.
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Kimberly Knox resides in a municipal housing project where the city landlord forbids handgun possession and mandates lockbox storage for other firearms outside the unit. After a nighttime threat, she challenges the policy in federal court. The court holds that the Second Amendment right applies to the city through the Fourteenth Amendment and invalidates the restrictions that prevent ready self-defense in the home.
Kaito Kato, a licensed permit holder, carries a handgun while walking through a public park near his home for protection. Local rules enacted after incorporation bar all carry in parks. Kaito sues the municipality. The court evaluates whether the park restriction aligns with historical tradition and determines that a total prohibition on public carry for self-defense violates the incorporated right.
Kwame Kofi signs a lease for an apartment that includes a city-mandated clause banning handguns and requiring trigger locks on all firearms at all times. After moving in, he faces a threat and cannot access a functional weapon. He sues the city and landlord. The court finds the condition destroys the core right to keep operable arms for home defense and declares it unenforceable.
Kiara Kaur keeps a handgun in her home for self-defense after a series of neighborhood crimes. A new state statute imposes a complete ban on handguns and requires all other firearms to be stored in government lockboxes. She challenges the statute. The court examines founding-era practices and concludes that the ban and storage mandate are inconsistent with the historical understanding of the right.
No. The Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms for lawful purposes, particularly self-defense in the home, unconnected with militia service.
No. A total ban on handgun possession in the home violates the Second Amendment because handguns are in common use for self-defense and the right protects operable firearms for immediate defensive use.
Yes. The right to keep and bear arms is incorporated against the states through the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause.
No. Requirements that render firearms inoperable for immediate self-defense in the home, such as mandatory trigger locks or disassembly rules, violate the Second Amendment.
…not a series of isolated points pricked out in terms of the taking of property; the freedom of speech, press, and religion; the right to keep and bear arms; the freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures; and so on. It is a rational continuum which, broadly speaking, includes a freedom from all substantial arbitrary impositions and…