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Article: The second amendment "Right to bear arms" and United States v. Emerson
- Article from:
- St. John's Law Review
- Article date:
- January 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright St. John's Law Review Association Winter 2003. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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INTRODUCTION
In a decision that received considerable national attention, a majority of a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in October of 2001 in United States v. Emerson1 that the Second Amendment of the Constitution, the fabled "right to bear arms," "protects the right of individuals, including those not then actually a member of any militia or engaged in active military service or training, to privately possess and bear their own firearms."2 The significance of the court's rejection of the Second Amendment's stated link between the bearing of arms and citizen service in a government militia rests, first, with the ongoing political debate ...