Clarifying Second Amendment Rights

Currently, there is a struggle with applying the Second Amendment right to recent cases. In 2008, District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago concluded that under the Second Amendment rights, people can own a gun unrelated to the military services and the right to "keep and bear arms" extends beyond federal territory to the states. Since then, statistics show that there are two cases per week going through lower courts challenging gun restrictions. The problem is, these lower courts are finding it hard to deal with these cases based off

the guidance of the two cases above. As the Court of Appeals puts it "If the Supreme Court. . .meant its holding to extend beyond home possession, it will need to say so more plainly.”. Currently there are two recent cases challenging the Second Amendment (click here to see the description of this amendment). One deals with a man named Charles F. Williams Jr, who had a gun in his car when he was driving home from his girlfriend's house without a permit, and the other case deals with a man named Sean Masciandaro who was convicted of violating a ban on having a loaded firearm in a vehicle on national parkland. Both challenge the idea that if there is a Second Amendment right to carry a gun outside the home, it surely applies to citizens carrying handguns while traveling on public highways and carrying one on the outskirts of a national parkland.

Asking the Supreme Court to clarify Amendments is a constant struggle that the justices are faced with everyday. The decisions from Heller and Mcdonald gave a green light to those wishing to challenge gun restrictions across the country, which in total has faced the rest of the country's court's with a hard time of making verdicts that are just under Heller and Mcdonald. This particular Amendment is really up to interpretation recently, because guns serious weapons of harm and whether or not one should carry one outside of the house has been a huge debate for many years. Even after the 5-4 decision of the District of Columbia v. Heller to carry a gun outside the home, people are still being charged for that exact reason. This amendment is also shown to be broadly interpreted through the case of Sean Masciandaro who did have a gun in possession in a national park, but because it's outside of the home, his lawyer Peyton is arguing that solely because the gun is outside of the home, he has the right to carry it virtually anywhere.

Article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/cases-lining-up-to-ask-supreme-court-to-clarify-second-amendment-rights/2011/08/11/gIQAioihFJ_story.html