Civil Liberties (2nd Amendment)

2nd Amendment

Concerned about rising crime, lawmakers for the District of Columbia ban all handguns in the city, and require that shot-guns be kept unloaded and/or disassembled.

The Bill of Rights was added to the U.S. Constitution primarily to

What Are Individual Rights ? ? ?

Which of the following statements explains how the Supreme Court has attempted to balance the power of the government with protections for individual liberties?

“The Second Amendment was adopted to protect the right of the people of each of the several States to maintain a well-regulated militia. It was a response to concerns raised during the ratification of the Constitution that the power of Congress to disarm the state militias and create a national standing army posed an intolerable threat to the sovereignty of the several States. Neither the text of the Amendment nor the arguments advanced by its proponents evidenced the slightest interest in limiting any legislature’s authority to regulate private civilian uses of firearms. Specifically, there is no indication that the Framers of the Amendment intended to enshrine the common-law right of self-defense in the Constitution.”

Associate Justice John Paul Stevens, dissenting opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008)

Which of the following statements is most consistent with the author’s argument in this passage?

In Supreme Court cases that consider the balance of power between the government's protection of the public and ensuring the rights of individuals as related to the Second Amendment, how has the Court usually ruled?

“As the quotations earlier in this opinion demonstrate, the inherent right of self-defense has been central to the Second Amendment right. The handgun ban [by the District of Columbia] amounts to a prohibition of an entire class of ‘arms’ that is overwhelmingly chosen by American society for that lawful purpose. The prohibition extends, moreover, to the home, where the need for defense of self, family, and property is most acute. Under any of the standards of scrutiny that we have applied to enumerated constitutional rights. . . banning from the home ‘the most preferred firearm in the nation to ‘keep’ and use for protection of one’s home and family, . . .would fail constitutional muster.’”

-Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, majority opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008)

Which of the following statements is most consistent with the author’s argument in this passage?