Second Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states: 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.

There has been much legal argument about the exact meaning of the words of the Second Amendment. "Militia" and "arms", for example, may have had a quite different meaning to the framers of the Constitution than in present society, or they may indeed represent universal aspects of rights.