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.–Second Amendment, U.S. Constitution

Irreconcilable interpretations of the Second Amendment lie at the heart of the gun control debate. One of these is the "individual rights" interpretation, which states that the Second Amendment gives individual citizens the right to own and use firearms for their own defense. Another, the "collective rights" interpretation, is that the Second Amendment protects the collective right of states to maintain armed militias in order to defend the states and the nation. Based on this viewpoint, the Second Amendment does not protect an individual's right to defend himself with firearms.

These interpretations are important because they are used in the current gun control debate to support each side's opposing positions...