Tag Archives: Second Amendment

  The U.S. Supreme Court often clarifies what laws mean. But lawyers.com videojournalist Greg Presto reports when it comes to the Second Amendment, a decision from the high court has created questions and generated litigation about how the right to bear arms relates to bearing arms in public. Benjamin Van Houtin, the managing attorney for the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, explains the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision that held a law abiding citizen has the right …

Shortly after an anarchy advocate successfully tested a plastic gun fabricated using 3D printing technology, and then distributed the plans on the internet, the U.S. State Department had the plans pulled due a possible violation of an international arms treaty. Cody Wilson, a law student at the University of Texas, and self-described anti-statist, printed a handgun called the “Liberator” and successfully fired it. The gun is completely made out of plastic assembled by a 3D printer, with the exception of …

Local governments in Arizona will soon have to sell firearms surrendered at gun buyback events to licensed gun dealers. A bill signed into law by Gov. Jan Brewer prohibits public agencies from destroying the weapons, even if the melted-down guns would be repurposed for another use. The new law undermines what many see as the primary purpose of gun buybacks, which is to take guns out of circulation. But proponents of the law say it’s wasteful for the government to …

An armed, terror suspect was on the loose the Boston suburbs, putting a million people in lockdown. Before Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured Friday night, authorities instructed residents to stay in their homes, behind locks and deadbolts, and to open their doors only to a uniformed police officer with proper credentials. The scene raised the question:  Would Bostonians feel and be safer if more of them had guns in their homes? The question comes at the end of a week when …

The U.S. Senate today rejected a bill that would have closed a major loophole in federal gun laws by subjecting firearm purchases made at gun shows and online to background checks. Currently, only purchases made from federally licensed  gun dealers require that buyers be cleared through the  FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Analysts estimate that 40 percent of all gun sales are not subjected to checks.  The background check amendment received a majority 54-46 vote in favor, but …