Second Amendment and the Right to Bear Arms: Cases

The Second Amendment and the right to bear arms require a claim-specific constitutional analysis. Identify who is regulated, the conduct at issue and the historical comparison offered to justify the restriction. Read a decision’s holding and limits before extending it to a different law or situation.

Individual Rights and Incorporation

The Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. District of Columbia v. Heller recognized a right to possess a handgun for self-defense in the home, and McDonald v. Chicago applied that protection to state and local governments through the Fourteenth Amendment. The right is not unlimited: a law may regulate arms without violating the Amendment, but the government must justify a covered restriction under the governing historical framework.

Textual Coverage and Historical Tradition

The framework asks two distinct questions. A court first asks whether the Amendment’s plain text covers the people, arms, and conduct at issue. If it does, the restriction is presumptively unconstitutional, and the government must show consistency with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen rejected free-form interest balancing at this stage. United States v. Rahimi clarified that history supplies relevant analogues, not necessarily an identical historical twin.

Wolford: State Default Rules and Private Property

In Wolford v. Lopez (June 25, 2026), the Court invalidated Hawaii’s default rule requiring express owner authorization for licensed concealed carry on private property open to the public. The decision preserved an owner’s choice to exclude firearms.

Identify the Conduct, Actor and Scope of the Challenge

For a test question, identify the regulated conduct, the level of government, and the proposed historical analogue. Do not infer that every firearm rule is valid or that every rule is forbidden. In Rahimi, the Court rejected a facial challenge to a federal law disarming a person subject to a qualifying domestic-violence restraining order, reasoning that the law could constitutionally apply after a judicial finding that the person posed a credible threat. The central distinctions are textual coverage, incorporation, the historical-tradition inquiry, and the difference between public regulation and private property control.

Read the Analogy and the Limits of the Holding

A historical comparison needs more than a shared safety objective. Compare how the historical rule operated and why it burdened the right. The government need not produce an identical old law, but the offered analogy must be relevant. Bruen and Rahimi do not replace that inquiry with a judge’s preferred policy balance.

Keep Wolford’s public-access setting separate from a private residence, an owner’s express exclusion or a different sensitive-place restriction. Its holding does not resolve every location where firearms may be regulated.

United States v. Hemani (June 18, 2026) illustrates the need to state a holding narrowly. The Court rejected the government’s prosecution under the unlawful-user provision as applied on its theory about Hemani’s marijuana use. It did not decide every drug-related firearm restriction, addiction, present intoxication or a prosecution supported by individualized proof of dangerousness. Do not turn that result into a general permission to disregard firearm laws.

Distinguish a State Rule from an Owner’s Decision

Compare two hypothetical situations. A state makes licensed concealed carry on private property open to the public unlawful unless the owner expressly authorizes it. Separately, a shop owner expressly prohibits firearms on the premises. Why does Wolford’s ruling on the first situation not decide the second in the permit holder’s favor?

Video Lesson: The Second Amendment

National Constitution Center gives a focused explanation of this topic in Second Amendment (High School/College).

If the player does not load, watch this lesson directly on YouTube.

For the clause-by-clause method that applies Bill of Rights guarantees to states, continue with selective incorporation.

Continue Studying Constitutional Rights

For a broader map connecting the second amendment and the right to bear arms to civil liberties, civil rights, and equal protection, use the AP U.S. Government and Politics learning hub.