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onstitution and prove that it is a political and not an individual right, and, of course that the State, in her legislative capacity, has the right to regulate and control it. (Right to Keep Arms)

In this case the judge states that it is clearly the states power to control firearms, however the majority rule of the court took a militia based interpretation. Earl Kruschke, a political scientist, classified as both the Bliss and Buzzard cases as demonstrating the individual rights view interpretation of the second amendment (Seconds Amendment). The next major court cases involving gun control was United States v. Cruikshank in 1876. The importance being this was the Supreme Court’s first chance to interpret the 2nd amendment, but the case involved interpretation of the 14th amendment, and how the Bill of Rights should be applied to state governments. On April 13, 1873 republican freed slaves were attacked by a small armed militia of Klansman to secure the Democratic takeover. Some of the black freedmen where armed and an estimated 200-300 people died that day in front of the courthouse. Members of the militia were indicted under the Enforcement Act of 1870: indicted for 32 counts of conspiring to deny African Americans the right to assemble, vote, as well as “the 'right to keep and bear arms for a lawful purpose.” The Supreme Court ruled found the charges faulty. They ruled that the second amendment “has no other effect than to restrict the powers of national government” (Library of Congress). The more important rulings came from the Supreme Courts interpretations of the Enforcement Act and the 14th amendment and how they should be applied to the states. The Enforcement Act was designed to protect black freedmen’s rights to life, liberty, and property from various groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. But the court found that the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses could only be enforced on state actions, and not the actions of individuals. The 14th amendment prohibits states from depriving individuals of certain rights but does not incorporate issues of rights between individuals. This case further adds to the controversies in the Bill of Rights and Second Amendment. How does one amendment, the 14th, restrict actions of the states to infringe upon the rights of individuals while the 2nd amendment only restricts the federal government’s involvement and allows states to regulate firearms (United States v. Cruikshank). This ruling was later upheld in the court case Presser v. Illinois of 1886. Herman Presser was found guilty of assembling a group of armed men who then paraded around a city in Illinois. He claimed that the indictment violated his Constitutional rights including the Second Amendment. Simply the court ruled in favor of state law, allowing Illinois to regulate its “military bodies,” and that the Second Amendment only restricted the federal government. More important was the court in dicta, the court’s opinion, it stated:

It is undoubtedly true that all citizens capable of bearing arms constitute the reserved military force or reserve militia of the United States as well as of the States; and, in view of this prerogative of the General Government, as well as of its general powers, the States cannot, even laying the constitutional provision in question 本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。