Arc of 2nd Amendment Jurisprudence

Key Questions:

Cases:

United States v. Rahimi, (2024)

New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, (2022)

the government must affirmatively prove that its firearms regulation is part of the historical tradition that delimits the outer bounds of the right to keep and bear arms.
decide a case based on the historical record compiled by the parties. [ in place of structure (“text, history, and structure.”)]
"May-Issue" firearm licensing regime is unconstitutional
Strict Scrutiny applies. Analogic Reasoning!

Caetano v. Massachusetts, (2016)

McDonald v. City of Chicago, (2010)

Incorporates the 2nd Amendment via the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment, at least for traditional, lawful purposes such as self-defense.

District of Columbia v. Heller, (2008)

Individualized right to possess an ordinary type of weapon and use it for lawful, historically established situations such as self-defense in a home, even when there is no relationship to a local militia.
Kennedy Paragraph: “Nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places ... or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.”

Muscarello v. United States, (1998)

United States v. Miller, (1939)

transportation of short-barreled shotgun

Presser v. Illinois, (1886)

limitation by state of right to arms outside militia

United States v. Cruikshank, (1876)

2nd Amendment applies only to federal government