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Originally Posted by Rochard
It does not say "any civilian has the right to bear arms", but it does say the "militia has the right to bear arms".
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Actually, it says the people have the right to bear arms:
the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
It does not say "states", it does not say "citizens", it does not say "military" or "militia members". It says "the people", as in "We, the people", which is all of us.
And, the Supreme Court has ruled that it means that too.
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the Supreme Court states in context, "it was clearly an individual right" (p. 20). The operative clause of the Second Amendment is “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” which is used three times in the Bill of Rights. The Court explains that "All three of these instances unambiguously refer to individual rights, not 'collective' rights, or rights that may be exercised only through participation in some corporate body" (p. 5), adding “nowhere else in the Constitution does a 'right' attributed to “the people” refer to anything other than an individual right" (p. 6).
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http://www.policymic.com/articles/24...cond-amendment
In there they are talking about DC v Heller
http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/07pdf/07-290.pdf
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