|
Abstract
|
The constitutional right of the people to keep arms has deep roots in common law and constitutional history, and it remains of fundamental importance to this day. This right is explicitly guaranteed in the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights and includes the keeping by private citizens of any hand-carried arms commonly used by private individuals and police for personal defense.
Because "A man's house is his castle and his defense," and because the Third Amendment in the Bill of Rights prohibits government from quartering soldiers in a person's house during times of peace without his consent, the constitutional right of the people to keep arms must guarantee at its core the legally unfettered ability of the householder to acquire speedily and to keep permanently and anonymously in his house such arms as are commonly used for home defense, not only as a means for resistance against violent burglars but also as a strong moral check and deterrent against illegal quartering of troops in his house.
A key purpose of the constitutional right of the people to keep arms was enunciated in Presser v. Illinois decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1886, to wit, "for maintaining the public security" -- that is, for citizen participation in preventing and suppressing violent felonies and capturing violent felons on the spot, a public purpose of great current importance and necessity, as at the common law.
Note: A printer's error led to the omission of end-notes beyond #14. Notes 15 through 32 are available online at: http://www.saf.org/journal/2/caplan.htm. |