Reply #22: exactly [View All]

in fact a living constitution standard actually strengthens the belief in an individual right to bear arms under the second amendment

the living constitution doctrine takes much of its power from public opinion. Public opinion is used to understand what certain rights mean to people and then interpreted in that view. so that rights that people think they have, or rights they think they should have, are seen to be rights in regards to the constitution. If we apply this to the second amendment, where an overwhelming majority of the public thinks they have an individual right (by about 4:1), it would only make sense that the constitution is interpreted to include a individual right to bear arms...

you should read akhil amars paper on the right to bear arms and how it has been redefined through the history of this country
http://www.harvardlawreview.org/issues/122/nov08/amar.pdf

he argues that maybe the original intent of the second amendment was a collective right but that it has been redefined, like so many other rights in this country (like a right to privacy which is actually not included in an provision in the constitution) to be an individual right