At the time of ratification of the Second and Fourteenth Amendments, civilians routinely kept firearms in their own homes that could be used for a variety of lawful purposes at the same time, including hunting, personal defense, and community defense. In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the Supreme Court stated that types of arms protected by the Second Amendment are not limited to those in existence at the time the Amendment was ratified, but rather the Amendment protects all arms that are “typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes,” including (but not limited to) stunguns, handguns, and other semi-automatic firearms.15
Indeed, the history and tradition of the Second Amendment show that at the core of the Second Amendment’s protections lie versatile small arms that are useful for and commonly employed in both a civilian and a militia context. On the other hand, the Supreme Court has declared that certain types of “dangerous and unusual” firearms, such as short-barreled shotguns or machine guns, may be subject to more stringent regulation
ENDNOTES:
15. 554 U.s. 570 (2008). See also Caetano v. Massachusetts, 577 U.S. 411 (2016)
