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Begin New Search Publishing Institution Independent Institute Author Stephen Halbrook

1. The Right to Bear Arms in the Virginia Constitution and the Second Amendment

Author:
Stephen Halbrook
Publication Date:
06-2017
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Independent Institute
Abstract:
The right to keep and bear arms in Virginia is guaranteed by both the state and federal constitutions. Article I, section 13, of the Virginia Constitution provides in part: ‘‘That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state, therefore, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed . . . .’’ The first clause dates to 1776, while the second clause was not adopted until 1971. The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted in 1791 and provides: ‘‘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.’’
Topic:
Arms Control and Proliferation
Political Geography:
America

2. New York’s Not So ‘SAFE’ Act The Second Amendment in an Alice-In-Wonderland World Where Words Have No Meaning

Author:
Stephen Halbrook
Publication Date:
06-2017
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Independent Institute
Abstract:
Use and manipulation of the pejorative term “assault weapon” is a classic case of “an Alice-in-Wonderland world where words have no meaning.” The Second Amendment provides that “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Arms, such as rifles, pistols, and shotguns, do not lose their constitutional protection because the legislature describes them with a derogatory term. Indeed, “no pronouncement of a legislature can forestall attack upon the constitutionality of the prohibition which it enacts by applying opprobrious epithets to the prohibited act . . . .”
Topic:
Arms Control and Proliferation
Political Geography:
America

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