US Army Second Amendment Patch

The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the right of U.S. citizens to keep and bear arms.

It was ratified on December 15, 1791, as one of the ten amendments approved on September 25, 1789, by the First Congress, known collectively as the Bill of Rights of the United States of America.

In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the Supreme Court affirmed for the first time that the right to own a gun is specifically vested in each individual and that the amendment protects an individual's right to keep a gun for self-defense. However, it noted that this right is not unlimited and does not preclude the existence of certain long-standing prohibitions such as those prohibiting "possession of weapons by felons and the mentally ill" or restrictions on "carrying dangerous and unusual weapons."

In McDonald v. City of Chicago, 2010, the Supreme Court held that state and county governments are limited to the same extent as the federal government from infringing on this right.

The importance of the Second Amendment isn't limited to legal and jurisprudential considerations alone. The debate continues today between various organizations pushing for gun control and those pushing for the preservation of gun rights.