Supreme Court Seems to Reject “Collective Rights” Limit on 2nd Amendment

Judging from comments by Supreme Court justices at the oral argument in the case challenging Washington, D.C.’s gun ban, the Supreme Court will likely reject the view taken by most lower courts that the Second Amendment protects only state militias’ right to bear arms, not individuals’ right to bear arms. Moreover, Justice Kennedy, often a swing vote on the Supreme Court, appears to believe that the Second Amendment protects not only the right to bear arms for military service, but also for self-defense, and perhaps hunting.

I earlier explained why the Supreme Court would be right to reject the argument that the right to bear arms is just a “collective right” possessed by state militias, rather than an individual right, and why the lower court decision striking down Washington, D.C.’s gun ban was not judicial activism.