Of course, with the Newtown, Connecticut tragedy there are many people who have opinions about the event and how to prevent something like this in the future.  I don’t claim to have the answers, but I want to trace some of the legal history about the 2nd Amendment and other amendments to add my own ideas.

Opponents to gun control always hold-up the 2nd Amendment as an absolute prohibition against any regulations on guns.  The amendment reads:  Because a well-regulated militia is necessary to national security, the right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed.  They focus on the second phrase and emphasize that people have a right to bear arms.  If you read the entire amendment however, you can see that the bearing of arms is in relation to the formation of militias–state-run armies.  Most courts up until the past twenty years, interpreted the amendment as an entire sentence which gave the government the ability to regulate the bearing of arms to some degree.

Are the rights in the second amendment absolute?

Let’s look at other amendments for help.

The 1st Amendment gives us the right to free speech.  It allows almost…almost anything to be published or spoken–but it’s not absolute.  For instance, it is not okay to yell “fire” in a crowded theater  even though the person has a right to free speech.  Also, it’s not legal to say defamatory or liable things about others.  In fact, if you say these things, you can be sued.  So there are regulations and restrictions on the 1st Amendment and we accept this balance between personal rights and the rights of others.

Similarly, the 4th Amendment gives us the right against unreasonable searches and seizures by law enforcement.  Is the right absolute?  No.  There’s a balance that the courts constantly draw between the rights of the individuals and the rights of law enforcement to be able to fight crime.  In the area of criminal law, there has probably never been an amendment that has been so fought over in the courts–and continues today.  This is another example of the limitations the courts put on an amendment.

There’s the 5th Amendment and the right of a person to not incriminate themselves.  This is another amendment that has led to hundreds of court opinions about confessions and the development of “Miranda” warnings that we hear on TV all the time.  It’s another example of how the courts have balanced the rights of the individual against the rights of the community (law enforcement) to maintain a crime-free society.

To say that the 2nd Amendment cannot be limited or regulated is to ignore the vast amount of court cases that have done just that with many other amendments.  In fact, the entire Constitution is continually undergoing scrutiny by the courts and interpretation depending on the changing needs of our society.