Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/07pdf/07-290.pdf
Page Number: 14

Cite as:  554 U. S. ____ (2008) 

11 

Opinion of the Court 

(quoting Black’s Law Dictionary 214 (6th ed. 1998)).  We 
think  that  JUSTICE  GINSBURG  accurately  captured  the
natural  meaning  of  “bear  arms.”  Although  the  phrase
implies that the carrying of the weapon is for the purpose 
of  “offensive  or  defensive  action,”  it  in  no  way  connotes
participation in a structured military organization. 

From  our  review  of  founding-era  sources,  we  conclude 
that  this  natural  meaning  was  also  the  meaning  that
“bear  arms”  had  in  the  18th  century.    In  numerous  in­
stances,  “bear  arms”  was  unambiguously  used  to  refer  to
the  carrying  of  weapons  outside  of  an  organized  militia. 
The  most  prominent  examples  are  those  most  relevant  to
the  Second  Amendment:  Nine  state  constitutional  provi­
sions written in the 18th century or the first two decades 
of  the  19th,  which  enshrined  a  right  of  citizens  to  “bear
arms in defense of themselves and the state” or “bear arms 
in defense of himself and the state.” 8  It is clear from those 
formulations that “bear arms”  did not refer only to carry­
—————— 

8 See  Pa.  Declaration  of  Rights  §XIII,  in  5  Thorpe  3083  (“That  the
people have a right to bear arms for the defence of themselves and the 
state. . . ”);  Vt.  Declaration  of  Rights  §XV,  in  6  id.,  at  3741  (“That  the
people have a right to bear arms for the defence of themselves and the 
State. . .”);  Ky.  Const.,  Art.  XII,  cl.  23  (1792),  in  3  id.,  at  1264,  1275 
(“That  the  right  of  the  citizens  to  bear  arms  in  defence  of  themselves 
and  the  State  shall  not  be  questioned”);  Ohio  Const.,  Art.  VIII,  §20 
(1802),  in  5  id.,  at  2901,  2911  (“That  the  people  have  a  right  to  bear 
arms for the defence of themselves and the State . . . ”); Ind. Const., Art. 
I,  §20  (1816),  in  2  id.,  at  1057,  1059  (“That  the  people  have  a  right  to
bear  arms  for  the  defense  of  themselves  and  the  State. . . ”);  Miss.
Const.,  Art.  I,  §23  (1817),  in  4  id.,  at  2032,  2034  (“Every  citizen  has  a
right to bear arms, in defence of himself and the State”); Conn. Const., 
Art. I, §17 (1818), in 1 id., at 536, 538 (“Every citizen has a right to bear
arms  in  defence  of  himself  and  the  state”);  Ala.  Const.,  Art.  I,  §23
(1819),  in  1  id.,  at  96,  98  (“Every  citizen  has  a  right  to  bear  arms  in
defence of himself and the State”); Mo. Const., Art. XIII, §3 (1820), in 4 
id., at 2150, 2163 (“[T]hat their right to bear arms in defence of them­
selves  and  of  the  State  cannot  be  questioned”).    See  generally  Volokh, 
State Constitutional Rights to Keep and Bear Arms, 11 Tex. Rev. L. & 
Politics 191 (2006).