Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/07pdf/07-290.pdf
Page Number: 17.0

14 

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA v. HELLER 

Opinion of the Court 

military discussions include not only “bear arms” but also 
“carry arms,” “possess arms,” and “have arms”—though no
one thinks that those other phrases also had special mili­
tary  meanings.  See  Barnett,  Was  the  Right  to  Keep  and
Bear  Arms  Conditioned  on  Service  in  an  Organized  Mili­
tia?,  83  Tex.  L. Rev.  237,  261  (2004).    The  common  refer­
ences  to  those  “fit  to  bear  arms”  in  congressional  discus­
sions  about  the  militia  are  matched  by  use  of  the  same
phrase  in  the  few  nonmilitary  federal  contexts  where  the 
concept would be relevant.  See, e.g., 30 Journals of Conti­
nental Congress 349–351 (J. Fitzpatrick ed. 1934).  Other 
legal  sources  frequently  used  “bear  arms”  in  nonmilitary 
contexts.10  Cunningham’s  legal  dictionary,  cited  above, 

—————— 

10 See  J.  Brydall,  Privilegia  Magnatud  apud  Anglos  14  (1704)  (Privi­
lege XXXIII) (“In the 21st Year of King Edward the Third, a Proclama­
tion Issued, that no Person should bear any Arms within London, and 
the  Suburbs”);  J.  Bond,  A  Compleat  Guide  to  Justices  of  the  Peace  43 
(1707)  (“Sheriffs,  and  all  other  Officers  in  executing  their  Offices,  and
all  other  persons  pursuing Hu[e]  and  Cry  may  lawfully  bear  arms”);  1
An  Abridgment  of  the  Public  Statutes  in  Force  and  Use  Relative  to 
Scotland  (1755)  (entry  for  “Arms”:  “And  if  any  person  above  described 
shall  have  in  his  custody,  use,  or  bear  arms,  being  thereof  convicted 
before  one  justice  of  peace,  or  other  judge  competent,  summarily,  he
shall for the first offense forfeit all such arms” (quoting 1 Geo. 1, c. 54, 
§1)); Statute Law of Scotland Abridged 132–133 (2d ed. 1769) (“Acts for
disarming  the  highlands”  but  “exempting  those  who  have  particular
licenses to bear arms”); E. de Vattel, The Law of Nations, or, Principles 
of the Law of Nature 144 (1792) (“Since custom has allowed persons of
rank  and  gentlemen  of  the  army  to  bear  arms  in  time  of  peace,  strict
care  should  be  taken  that  none  but  these  should  be  allowed  to  wear 
swords”);  E.  Roche,  Proceedings  of a  Court-Martial,  Held  at  the  Coun­
cil-Chamber, in the City of Cork 3 (1798) (charge VI: “With having held 
traitorous conferences, and with having conspired, with the like intent, 
for the purpose of attacking and despoiling of the arms of several of the
King’s  subjects,  qualified  by  law  to  bear  arms”);  C.  Humphreys,  A 
Compendium of the Common Law in force in Kentucky 482 (1822) (“[I]n
this country the constitution guaranties to all persons the right to bear 
arms; then it can only be a crime to exercise this right in such a man­
ner, as to terrify people unnecessarily”).