document: This is not an argument regarding the merits of gun control laws . Second Amendment states -LRB- 1791 -RRB- : `` 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 . '' As often happens in law , a simple English sentence may have legal significance which determines the application of the words . The Second Amendment was , as was the rest of the first 10 amendments -LRB- the Bill of Rights -RRB- , insisted upon by some of the states for their own protection from the federal government . The Second Amendment stated one of the subjects about which the federal government was prohibited from making any laws . The word `` people '' as used in constitutional law is used collectively and refers to a political entity , such as a state , and does not mean `` persons '' or individuals . An early ruling in 1875 in U.S. vs. Cruikshank established the view of the U.S. Supreme Court , upheld in cases in 1886 , 1894 and 1939 . The court in Cruikshank said that the Second Amendment did not create a federally protected right of individuals but was an express limitation on the powers of the national -LRB- federal -RRB- government . There have been lower federal court decisions regarding the Second Amendment , all supportive of this established principle . The status of the Second Amendment as a constitutional issue is and has been for nearly 200 years : 1 -RRB- A restriction on the power of the federal government to limit or deny the states the right to have state militia . 2 -RRB- Not a federally protected right of individuals . There is no national document controlling the states with regard to arms . The states may regulate arms within their borders . WILLIAM NEALY Studio City
extractive_keyphrases: gun control laws second amendment federal government constitutional law security arms