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10 

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA v. HELLER 

Opinion of the Court 

At the time of the founding, as now, to “bear” meant to
“carry.”  See  Johnson  161;  Webster;  T.  Sheridan,  A  Com­
plete Dictionary of the English Language (1796); 2 Oxford 
English  Dictionary  20  (2d  ed.  1989)  (hereinafter  Oxford).
When used with “arms,” however, the term has a meaning
for  a  particular  purpose—
that  refers  to  carrying 
confrontation.  In  Muscarello  v.  United  States,  524  U. S. 
125  (1998),  in  the  course  of  analyzing  the  meaning  of 
“carries  a  firearm”  in  a  federal  criminal  statute,  JUSTICE 
GINSBURG wrote that “[s]urely a most familiar meaning is,
as  the  Constitution’s  Second  Amendment  . . .  indicate[s]: 
‘wear, bear, or carry . . . upon the person or in the clothing 
or  in  a  pocket,  for  the  purpose  . . .  of  being  armed  and 
ready for offensive or defensive action in a case of conflict 
with  another  person.’ ”    Id.,  at  143  (dissenting  opinion) 

—————— 

them in the way of Trade or Commerce, or such Arms as accrued to him 
by way of Inheritance”); J. Trusler, A Concise View of the Common Law
and Statute Law of England 270 (1781) (“if [papists] keep arms in their
houses,  such  arms  may  be  seized  by  a  justice  of  the  peace”);  Some 
Considerations  on  the  Game  Laws  54  (1796)  (“Who  has  been  deprived
by [the law] of keeping arms for his own defence?  What law forbids the 
veriest  pauper,  if  he  can  raise  a  sum  sufficient  for  the  purchase  of  it, 
from mounting his Gun on his Chimney Piece . . . ?”); 3 B. Wilson, The 
Works  of  the  Honourable  James  Wilson  84  (1804)  (with  reference  to 
state  constitutional  right:  “This  is  one  of  our  many  renewals  of  the
Saxon  regulations.    ‘They  were  bound,’  says  Mr.  Selden,  ‘to  keep  arms 
for  the  preservation  of  the  kingdom,  and  of  their  own  person’ ”);  W.
Duer, Outlines of the Constitutional Jurisprudence of the United States
31–32  (1833)  (with  reference  to  colonists’  English  rights:  “The  right  of
every individual to keep arms for his defence, suitable to his condition 
and  degree;  which  was  the  public  allowance,  under  due  restrictions  of 
the  natural  right  of  resistance  and  self-preservation”);  3  R.  Burn, 
Justice  of  the  Peace  and  the  Parish  Officer  88  (1815)  (“It  is,  however,
laid down by Serjeant Hawkins, . . . that if a lessee, after the end of the 
term,  keep  arms  in  his  house  to  oppose  the  entry  of  the  lessor, . . .”); 
State  v.  Dempsey,  31  N. C.  384,  385  (1849)  (citing  1840  state  law
making  it  a  misdemeanor  for  a  member  of  certain  racial  groups  “to 
carry  about  his  person  or  keep  in  his  house  any  shot  gun  or  other
arms”).