Attempting to Resolve the Felon-In-Possession Prohibition Circuit Split: The Second Amendment Historical Analogue Test After United States v. Rahimi

The Second Amendment 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 inception of this amendment was rooted in the Founding Fathers’ Enlightenment ideals and disapproval of the English Crown’s “standing armies.” In founding-era America, the militias were not composed of professional soldiers but instead of local citizens with the aim of providing common defense. The main concern surrounding the ratification was that the Second Amendment would give too much power to the federal government and result in the same centralized military power that existed in Great Britain.