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12 

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA v. HELLER 

STEVENS, J., dissenting 

the Latin arma ferre, which, translated literally, means “to 
bear [ferre] war equipment [arma].”  Brief for Professors of 
Linguistics  and  English  as  Amici  Curiae  19.    One  18th­
century  dictionary  defined  “arms”  as  “weapons  of  offence, 
or  armour  of  defence,”  1  S.  Johnson,  A  Dictionary  of  the
English  Language  (1755),  and  another  contemporaneous 
source  explained  that  “[b]y  arms,  we  understand  those 
instruments of offence generally made use of in war; such 
as  firearms,  swords,  &  c.  By  weapons,  we  more  particu­
larly  mean  instruments  of  other  kinds  (exclusive  of  fire­
arms), made use of as offensive, on special occasions.”  1 J. 
Trusler,  The  Distinction  Between  Words  Esteemed  Syn­
onymous  in  the  English  Language  37  (1794).8    Had  the  
Framers  wished  to  expand  the  meaning  of  the  phrase 
“bear arms” to encompass civilian possession and use, they 
could have done so by the addition of phrases such as “for 
the  defense  of  themselves,”  as  was  done  in  the  Pennsyl­
vania  and  Vermont  Declarations  of  Rights.    The  unmodi-
fied use of “bear arms,” by contrast, refers most naturally
to  a  military  purpose,  as  evidenced  by  its  use  in  literally
dozens  of  contemporary  texts.9    The  absence  of  any  refer­

—————— 

8 The Court’s repeated citation to the dissenting opinion in Muscarello 
v.  United  States,  524  U. S.  125  (1998),  ante,  at  10,  13,  as  illuminating
the  meaning  of  “bear  arms,”  borders  on  the  risible.    At  issue  in  Mus-
carello was the proper construction of the word “carries” in 18 U. S. C.
§924(c)  (2000  ed.  and  Supp.  V);  the  dissent  in  that  case  made  passing 
reference to the Second Amendment only in the course of observing that 
both  the  Constitution  and  Black’s  Law  Dictionary  suggested  that
something more active than placement of a gun in a glove compartment
might be meant by the phrase “ ‘carries a firearm.’ ”  524 U. S., at 143. 

9 Amici  professors  of  Linguistics  and  English  reviewed  uses  of  the 
term  “bear  arms”  in  a  compilation  of  books,  pamphlets,  and  other 
sources  disseminated  in  the  period  between  the  Declaration  of  Inde­
pendence  and  the  adoption  of  the  Second  Amendment.    See  Brief  for 
Professors  of  Linguistics  and  English  as  Amici  Curiae  23–25.    Amici 
determined that of 115 texts that employed the term, all but five usages
were  in  a  clearly  military  context,  and  in  four  of  the  remaining  five
instances, further qualifying language conveyed a different meaning.