The 2nd Amendment to the Constitution is a touchstone for the many people who identify with American society’s enduring affinity for firearms. And every time there is an atrocity, such as the mass shooting, debate inevitably settles on how this part of the Constitution effectively prevents the adoption of workable gun control measures.

The 2nd Amendment “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 2nd Amendment was always about federalism, protecting the power of the states to have and regulate militias rather than granting individual rights, and the courts interpreted it that way consistently until two cases, in 2008 and 2010, that completely upended more than two centuries of legal and constitutional history. In the case of District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008), the Supreme Court held that the 2nd Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm – independent of any service in a militia – for legal purposes such as self-defence. In a subsequent case, McDonald v. Chicago, 561 U.S. 3025 (2010), the Court extended this protection against bans by all state and local governments.

These cases established the individual right to gun ownership for the first time – but, significantly, they were only applied in relation to absolute bans. The Supreme Court continues to allow almost all restrictions on firearms short of an outright ban. It is the politics of gun regulation that is much more important if you want to understand the gun debate in the US. The Second Amendment, meanwhile, is a political symbol rather than a strong legal protection.

• I will protect the right of the law-abiding citizen’s inherent and absolute right to bear arms. However, I will also enforce stricter background checks. I was asked in a forum by an audience member, how I would feel with him owning a 50 caliber  machine gun, and I said, “are you forming a small army!” We need to be sensible about what firearm an individual can have in his or her possession.

   

• Your choice will be enforced, such as having an automatic weapon to protect your home since personal protection has now become the main reason cited by gun owners, rising from 26% in 1999 to 48% in 2013. Traditionally, hunting was the main purpose for gun ownership but it has declined from 49% in 1999 to 32% in 2013. Despite worries over personal safety, fueled by widespread media coverage of regular mass shootings, the homicide rate from firearms has fallen hugely in the US since the 1990s. Compared with 1993, the peak of US gun homicides, the firearm homicide rate was 49% lower in 2010. The rate for other violent crimes with a firearm was 75% lower in 2011 than in 1993. While violent crime has plummeted since the 1990s, however, mass shootings consume most efforts around gun control today. People believe that crime has gone up rather than down – and this continuing fear of crime influences gun policy. I will work hard to dispell this myth.