Lower Court Holding
Decision of the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
The Second Amendment provides: “A well regulated Militia,being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people tokeep and bear Arms shall not be infringed. Theprovision’s second comma divides the Amendment into two clauses; the first isprefatory, and the second operative. Appellants’argument is focused on their reading of the Second Amendment’s operativeclause. According to Appellants, the Amendment’s language flat out guaranteesan individual right “to keep and bear Arms. Appellants concede that theprefatory clause expresses a civic purpose, but argue that this purpose, whileit may inform the meaning of an ambiguous term like “arms, does…
