Citation

Halsey A. J. Firearms Public Policy 1989; 2(1): 61-67.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1989, Second Amendment Foundation)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

As of this moment, it is the official position of the Federal Government that the Second Amendment does not protect the right of individual citizens to keep and bear firearms. The exact words used are that "the Second Amendment does not apply to private citizens as an individual right." Although that flat statement was made at a relatively low level -- by an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Indiana this Jan. 5 -- a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. confirmed that it is the government's current stand.

The official declaration that the Second Amendment is a dead letter so far as individual gun owners are concerned, while shocking in its bluntness, came as no surprise to those in Washington long familiar with the legal situation. The government's position goes back, in fact, to a 1939 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in an obscure case involving a sawed-off shotgun.

From a gun owner viewpoint, the big and burning question at present is whether the high court interpreted the Second Amendment wrongly nearly 34 years ago, and if it was wrong, what can be done about it now?