Guns and Gay Sex: Some Notes on Firearms, the Second Amendment, and 'Reasonable Regulation'

Abstract

In light of the Supreme Court's grant of certiorari in Heller v. District of Columbia, this Essay contains some thoughts inspired by Adam Winkler's "Scrutinizing the Second Amendment," 105 Mich. L. Rev. 683 (2007). Winkler argues, correctly, that judicial acceptance of an individual-rights interpretation of the Second Amendment would not end all firearms regulation. However, Winkler's understanding of what constitutes "reasonable regulation" is excessively broad. In "Guns and Gay Sex," I look at two overlapping lines of Tennessee cases on the right to arms and the right to privacy and conclude that even a "reasonable regulation" model of the right to arms would pose significant barriers to overly intrusive firearms laws.

Keywords: guns, firearms, second amendment, right to bear arms, aymette, winkler, tennessee, reynolds, keep and bear arms