... It is difficult for the average citizen to interpret the amendment; however, in October 2001, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in the United States verses Emerson case that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. Fifth Circuit Senior Judge, William L. Garwood, wrote the documented decision. It is devoted to issues of the Second Amendment and finds it entirely in favor of the individual rights interpretation. To quote a portion of this document, the court said: "We have found no historical evidence that the Second Amendment was intended to convey militia power to the states . . . or applies only to members of a select militia . . .. All of the evidence indicates that the Second Amendment, like other parts of the Bill of Rights, applies to and protects individual Americans. We find that the history of ...

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