Montana, Statehood and the Second Amendment

The Supreme Court of the United States is hearing the case by a citizen of Washington DC which challenges the gun ban in the District. It is the first such challenge to the modern interpretation of that amendment that the right to bare arms is a collective not an individual right. An interesting wrinkle has been uncovered. The state of Montana's statehood charter clearly specifies the Federal Government acknowledge the second amendment as an individual right as a contingent to that territory becoming a state.

Legal commentators question whether a contrary ruling by the court would invalidate the charter but that is what 39 elected officials in Montana have claimed in a resolution they have signed.

"The U.S. would do well to keep its contractual promise to the states that the Second Amendment secures an individual right now as it did upon execution of the statehood contract," Montana Secretary of State Brad Johnson said in a Feb. 15 letter to The Washington Times.

In light of such an agreement the Supreme Court would be hard pressed to now contradict the assurance of the government in 1889 that the individual retains the right to arms.






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