Student Materials
Firearms Law and the Second Amendment: Regulation, Rights, and Policy
The Right to Arms in the States
The Right to Arms in the States
examines the distinctive role of state law in
both firearms regulation and the protection of
arms rights. It surveys modern state
constitutional decisions and recent
constitutional amendments, explores state
firearm-preemption laws and conflicts over local
regulatory authority, and provides an overview
of common state and local laws governing firearm
purchase, registration, storage, hunting,
carrying, shooting ranges, zoning, and property
rights. The reader highlights the continuing
importance of state constitutions and statutes
alongside the federal Second Amendment.
A History of State Constitutional Arms-Bearing Provisions
A History of State Constitutional Arms-Bearing Provisions traces the development of state constitutional protections for the right to keep and bear arms from the founding era to the present. It reproduces the text and amendment history of each state’s arms-bearing provision, showing changes over time in the purposes protected, the relationship between arms rights and self-defense, and the extent to which state constitutions expressly permit or restrict regulation. The reader provides a comparative historical resource for understanding both the diversity of state constitutional approaches and the broader evolution of American arms-rights guarantees.
Social and Political History of the Right to Arms in the Modern Era
Social and Political History of the Right to Arms in the Modern Era traces the changing politics and social meaning of firearms regulation from the mid-twentieth century through the years preceding Heller and McDonald. It examines armed self-defense during the civil-rights era, the Gun Control Act of 1968, the emergence and evolution of organized gun-control and gun-rights movements, the transformation of the NRA, and major controversies over handgun bans, background checks, “assault weapons,” and public carry. The reader also explores how electoral politics, social movements, and renewed academic interest in the Second Amendment helped reshape the modern constitutional debate over the coexistence of gun rights and gun regulation.
State Constitutional Right-to-Hunt and Right-to-Fish Provisions
State Constitutional Right-to-Hunt and Right-to-Fish Provisions compiles state constitutional protections for hunting and fishing, organized by state and date of adoption. The provisions illustrate the varied ways in which states protect hunting, fishing, trapping, and wildlife harvesting while preserving governmental authority over conservation and wildlife management and, in many states, expressly safeguarding private-property and trespass rules. The reader also includes distinctive fishing-right provisions, including protections for access to public waters and traditional shoreline fisheries.
Research Tools
In August 2021, Mexico sued several U.S. firearm manufacturers for "actively facilitating the unlawful trafficking of their guns to drug cartels and other criminals in Mexico." The complaint is available here.
Defensive gun uses are seldom reported by national news outlets; unlawful shootings, by contrast, are reported relatively often. Local news reporting, however, much more frequently includes both types of stories. This is especially true in more gun-friendly areas. The following links are to video clips of local news reports of defensive gun uses.
Many national constitutions contain provisions authorizing resistance to tyranny. This list includes the full text of each of these provisions in both English and Chinese.