2nd Amendment

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Ukrainian

is, for the framers, such that even if it was meant to protect the militia, they chose specify that they wanted to further that purpose through individual right to arms so we are not now free to amend their choices.

Recently, Eugene Volokh has offered a sophisticated version of this argument. He acknowledges that the Framers may have written the Second Amendment largely to protect the militia, but he insist they deliberately decided to protect the militia through an individual right to arms. Thus, although they may have had a purpose in mind, they chose to specify how they wanted to further that purpose, and we are not now free to amend their choices. As a result, the operative language stands independent of its purpose clause: the Framers codified an individual right to arms and added the purpose clause as interesting surplusage that is irrelevant to its interpretation.

Eugene VolokhThinkers

Eugene Volokh