Second Amendment Law and Legal Definition
The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides:
" 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."
The original intent and purpose of the Second Amendment was to preserve and guarantee the pre-existing right of individuals to keep and bear arms.
Controversy exists as to the application of the Second Amendment to gun control laws. Gun rights advocates believe that the Second Amendment to the Constitution prohibits any and all gun control. Gun control advocates stress that the Second Amendment only preserves the right to bear arms that are pre-existing, but is not a grant to bear arms.