The 2nd Amendment — it’s not what you think it is

The 2nd Amendment: 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.

I’m not sure this ever gets read correctly because of one little comma that has huge implications. The amendment does not read “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” This line is cited all the time, but those who cite it that way are wrong. It’s not what the amendment says.

There’s a comma, and however you want to interpret that Amendment, it does not say the right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed. The framers of our Constitution were men who fully understood the power of language, sentence structure and the exact grammar to give it the meaning or even the vagueness they wanted it to have. Had they meant it to read “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” they’d have written it that way.

It doesn’t say that therefore the framers did not mean it that way then nor should it be taken to mean that now.

It’s time the Supreme Court members who claim to be originalisists interpret this Amendment as it was written.