It’s curious that an old Warren Burger quote from a Parade Magazine article in 1990 has been appearing in the media. The quote that Burger made was done so after he retired from the Supreme Court, without ever having ruled on a second amendment case throughout his seventeen-year career as a Supreme Court Justice.
He was a strict constitutionalist; a conservative. And his retirement preceded the landmark District of Columbia et. al. v. Heller Supreme Court case in 2008 that settled any confusion with the second amendment language.
In particular, the meaning of “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.”
The language in the Constitution and The Bill of Rights regarding individual and collective States’ rights is consistent throughout. Where individual rights were intended, it is clearly stated. And, where states’ or collective rights are intended, those too are clearly stated.
In the late 18th century, a “well regulated Militia” meant all able-bodied men; again, individuals. The “right of the people to keep and bear Arms” is incontrovertible. The second amendment is not the only text in the Bill of Rights that uses the term “people” to protect an individual right; the first amendment protects speech as an individual right, not a collective right; unreasonable search and seizure in the fourth amendment cites “right of the people”, again an individual right.
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