The University of Chicago

The Second Amendment

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What is it? 

  • When Americans talk about gun policy, they often talk about the Second Amendment of the US Constitution. The amendment reads “a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” If you feel confused, you’re not alone. Scholars have debated the wording and sentence structure of this amendment for decades, as both have implications for its meaning. 

Why is the US Constitution so important? 

  • For individuals who grew up in another country, the analysis of one sentence may feel extreme, but this builds on a larger point about the American Constitution. 
  • The American Constitution was the “first complete written national constitution.” There are many different ways to understand the Constitution, but many scholars, judges, and policymakers fall into more “originalist” or “textualist” ideologies—reading the Constitution for meaning as it was written—rather than in the current context, which a pragmatist would do. 

Why is it controversial? 

  • While Americans may have many questions about the Second Amendment, a few are: 
    • What is a reasonable restriction on civilian gun use, both in the eyes of the Founding Fathers, and in the modern era? 
    • To what extent can this amendment, similar perhaps to the First Amendment to free speech, be restricted by state and federal laws? 
    • Was the amendment intended to speak strictly to gun ownership for militia members or for the general public? 
  • The Constitution Center summarizes the current controversy well here. 
  • More commonly asked questions are answered well in this FindLaw article about the controversy over the Second Amendment. 

What does it mean for gun policy? 

  • The Second Amendment has become the sticking point for many gun rights activists calling for “no compromise” on their individual rights outlined in the Amendment. Many see any attempt at commonsense gun legislation as an infringement on those rights. 
  • The gun rights lobby is not a monolith, however, and part of the controversy over the Amendment is that there could be reasonable restrictions on some weapons given their potential for violence.