Does the Fourteenth Amendment protect the right to bear arms under the Privileges and Immunities Clause?
This question was at the heart of the Nordyke case because their claim was that the Fourteenth Amendment incorporates the original Bill of Rights and, therefore, makes the Second Amendment apply to the States. For clarification, the Privileges and Immunities Clause states, “no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States,” The Court answered this question in the negative. No, they said, it does not apply. Excerpt: This language protects only those rights that derive from United States citizenship, but not those general civil rights independent of the Republic’s existence. Excerpt: It has always been widely understood that the Second Amendment, like the First and Fourth Amendments, codified a pre-existing right. It necessarily follows that the Privileges or Immunities Clause did not protect the right to keep and bear arms because it was not a right of citizens of the United States. While this may seem like twisted
