2nd Amendment Explained

Each phrase of the 2nd Amendment with notes about the phrase's meaning.

For more information, see our 2nd Amendment Resources.

"well regulated"

• The United States is meant to be run by the civilians, not the military, and not the militia. Well regulated means that the civilian government is in control of the militia when it is called.

"militia"

• In the days of the Founding Fathers, they understood the dangers of a formal government military. However, they also understood the need to protect the country. The militia is every able-bodied male over the age of 16.

"being necessary to the security of a free State"

• As citizens, we need to help defend our country.
• The government can activate the militia.
• In times that we are called out by the governor, you, me, and all the other members of the militia show up with our own weapons and our own ammunition, report to the civilian government, and work beside the rest of us to protect our country.

"the right of the people"

• Like the other rights in the Bill of Rights, it is an individual right.

"to keep and bear"

• In addition to ownership, the use of arms is recognized.

"arms"

• Both at the time of the writing of the Bill of Rights and now, "arms" means light military weapons that can be used by an individual.

"shall not be infringed"

• The government may not regulate away this right. The Bill of Rights codifies existing natural rights, it does not grant them. They exist whether they are written or not; the purpose of the Bill of Rights was to explicitly codify them so that they would not be regulated away over time.
• If government can make a seemingly minor rule or condition to firearms ownership, then government can make that seemingly minor process so expensive and/or time consuming that it makes it completely impractical to own firearms. The Founding Fathers understood that absolute power corrupts absolutely, so they clarified the right in a way that government cannot disallow ownership.
• Infringed also means violated; see the Dictionary.com definition.