Famous Thinkers

Government Restrictions

Nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms."

McDonald confirmed that the Second Amendment's protections apply to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment, but also confirmed that the rights are not absolute and longstanding regulations are "presumptively lawful."

Neither case fully defined what rights existed under the Second Amendment for persons to carry guns in public, and the ancillary question of to what extent states could regulate the same.

Heller endorsed restrictions for sensitive places such as schools and government buildings. Judge Hamilton took this another step and argued that it would be reasonable to extend this logic to "areas around schools, courthouses, other government buildings, public universities, public libraries, hospitals, medical offices, public parks and forests, churches and other places of worship, banks, shopping centers, public transportation facilities and vehicles, and venues for sporting events, concerts, and other entertainment, among many possible examples. He noted that nothing prevents private property owners from banning firearms on their premises. Nothing prevents Illinois from setting reasonable limits on how qualified persons may carry firearms in public places where they are not prohibited.

Nothing in the panel opinion, Heller, or McDonald prevents Illinois from imposing reasonable limits on which arms may be carried in public. "We can be reasonably confident that the Second Amendment rights are not limited to arms known to the Framers of the amendment, but also confident that the rights do not extend to all the arms that a modern militia might need."