CONSTITUTIONAL INTERPRETATIONS

The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that “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.” Those words of law, according to the United States Supreme Court, entitle every American citizen of age to carry an operable handgun on his or her person, for the purpose of self-defense, every time he or she ventures out of his or her home property, with exceptions for “sensitive places.” See New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn. v. Breun, 597 U.S. 1 (2022). Yesterday, four members of the Supreme Court practically promised to consider, within the next two years, the question of whether the Second Amendment extends that entitlement to semi-automatic rifles. See Snope v. Brown, Denial of Certiorari (June 2, 2025).

To reach the conclusion that it does, the Court will have to add language to the Second Amendment, or else to the Constitution as a whole, to read as follows: “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, not only for the purpose of preserving the Militia, but also for the purpose of self-defense.” Nothing in the Second Amendment, nor in the Constitution as a whole, says anything about protecting the right of self-defense against restrictive legislation. The Constitution plainly does not authorize or permit the Court to amend that document, either explicitly or constructively. See U.S. Constitution, Article V.

Dan D. Rhea