“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.”

     During a recent interview, Sergeant David Roberts, Public Information Office Killeen Regional Office for the Texas Department of Public safety, outlined Texas’ history with Second Amendment.

     “The state of Texas and every other state in the United States is bound by the Constitution,” Roberts said.” You have half of the country who does not like the Second Amendment, and the other half who does. The fact is, it’s the Second amendment, and until it’s repealed it is what it is. The need for guns came about because the people wanted to get away from a tyrannical government. ”

     In two major cases argued in recent years before the Supreme Court, the court upheld the rights of citizens in regard to the Second Amendment. In the first, and possibly biggest case, -District of Columbia versus Heller- in June 2008, the court guaranteed a person’s right to self defense said DC’s ban on handguns violated a law abiding responsible citizen’s right to bear arms, Roberts said.

     “The Supreme Court ruling guaranteed that any individual, not government, but individual should have the right to possess and carry a firearm in case of confrontation, and to maintain the inherent right of self defense,” Roberts said. “They concluded that Washington DC’s ban on citizens having handguns violated the Second Amendment.”  

     In the second case -McDonald vs City of Chicago- the court  used the 14th Amendment Equal Protection under the Law to confirm rights of citizens to own guns.

     “They related to the 14th Amendment which states that no state shall make or enforce a law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States…,” Rogers said. “So what it’s saying is that again states cannot infringe upon these laws that are already set forth by our Founding Fathers.That’s what the 14th Amendment guarantee.”