State Constitutions and Gun Rights

Junto society ^ | 11/03/2002 | Monty Rainey

[stoney]

State Constitutions and Gun Rights

I. State Constitutions Contemporaneous with the Second Amendment

The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution was written in 1789 and sent by Congress to the States for ratification. Ratification was achieved in 1791. Four state constitutions from the very early Republic -- Pennsylvania, Vermont, North Carolina and Kentucky -- provide important evidence about the meaning of the right to arms in the contemporaneous time period surrounding the adoption of the Second Amendment.

***This is a huge file, so I am only posting a portion. Be sure and click on the link to view the full document. http://www.juntosociety.com/factsheets/scgr.html

[stoney]

***This is a huge file, so I am only posting a portion. Be sure and click on the link to view the full document. http://www.juntosociety.com/factsheets/scgr.html

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

banging

[Wonder Warthog]

Thank you for locating this EXCELLENT compilation of state laws. It is obvious from perusing them that there can be NO CONFUSION WHATSOEVER that the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights confers an INDIVIDUAL right to keep and bear arms.

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

The 1912 New Mexico Constitution guaranteed: "The people have the right to bear arms for their security and defense, but nothing herein shall be held to permit the carrying of concealed weapons."

In 1971, the people voted to rephrase the guarantee, to make explicit that the protection encompassed recreational as well as defensive purposes. The change reads: "No law shall abridge the right of the citizen to keep and bear arms for security and defense, for lawful hunting and recreational use and for other lawful purposes, but nothing herein shall be held to permit the carrying of concealed weapons."

In 1986, New Mexico constitutionally forbade local regulation of firearms, adding, "No municipality or county shall regulate, in any way, an incident of the right to keep and bear arms."

Good information, thanks!

[stoney]

You're most welcome. I can't begin to tell you how may hours went into researching this. I also have another gun control fact sheet on the same homepage. You go to the link and click "index", the click "fact sheets". I hope you find it useful.

[Wonder Warthog]

"I can't begin to tell you how may hours went into researching this. I also have another gun control fact sheet on the same homepage."

Actually, I can. A few years back, I got a "bee in the bonnet" to look up the same info, figuring that the state constitutions/bills of rights that were contemporaneous with or predated the Federal constitution would shed some light on the real meaning of the Second Amendment. I found some of the same info you did (but not all of it), and it DID take a LOT of searching. Your compilation will make an excellent reference source.

[stoney]

thanks for the bump.

[stoney]

You're welcome!

[dcwusmc]

Bump

[stoney]

Thanks for the bump.