A while back I made a point to dog-ear a page in the August 2025 edition of the NRA magazine America’s 1st Freedom. The page was the Parting Shot article by Charles C.W. Cooke titled, “Yes, The Second Amendment is a Civil Right.”
In the article, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon discussed the 2nd Amendment (2A) as a focus of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. We’ve already seen this in action with the Department of Justice opposing (quote-unquote) “assault weapons bans” and magazine capacity limits.
As Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the landmark case New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022,) “the 2nd Amendment is not a second-class right.” As the article stated, many actions that lead up to the 14th Amendment (1868) were to guarantee newly freed slaves were not denied unalienable rights. The Second Freedman’s Bureau Act of 1866 insisted explicitly that, “the Constitutional Right to bear arms, would not be countermanded by any States that sought to pass laws that make it virtually impossible for American Citizens to own and carry firearms.”
At that point, I started researching of “civil rights definition.” Typing that phrase into your favorite Internet search engine will bring up references from dictionaries, encyclopedias, law schools, and federal government entities. Many rights were mentioned including: speech, religion, voting, due process, but not one listed the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. Needless to say, I found that quite annoying.
Then I started looking at the difference between a Civil Right, and a Civil Liberty. Putting it simply: a Right is something received from the government. A Liberty is something we have because we are Americans. Liberties are in fact (to borrow a line from the Declaration of Independence) endowed by our Creator.
18-year-olds have the Right to vote. This is from an action of government: the 26th Amendment. Protections against discrimination in housing, employment, and education are all Rights from various Civil Rights Acts passed by Congress and signed by the President.
The first 10 Amendments to the US Constitution (Bill of Rights) provide protections to Liberties from government overreach. Freedom of speech and to peaceably assemble, protection from unreasonable search and seizure, due process and protection from involuntary self-incrimination, the right to an attorney and obtain witnesses in your defense, to be free from cruel and unusual punishment and excessive bail. These are but some of the Liberties we have as Americans. We also have the 14th Amendment to ensure States don’t infringe on Rights (and Liberties) we have as Americans.
From the late 1760s well into the 1770s, 25% of Boston’s population was British soldiers who were quartered in the homes of Bostonians. Our 3rd Amendment (No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner…) doesn’t get much attention, but our founders knew the importance of property rights. Your home is your castle.
This brings us to the question, “Is the 2nd Amendment a Civil Right or a Civil Liberty?” My answer is a resounding “YES!” because it is clearly both.
The 2nd Amendment is between the Liberties of: freedom of speech, religion, the press, peaceable assembly, redress of grievances; and the Liberty of not quartering soldiers without your consent. The “shot heard around the world” on 19 April 1775 was a response to British troops attempting to confiscate arms and gunpowder. The Right to Keep and Bear Arms as a Liberty was to prevent the takeover of a tyrannical government, as well as deter an invasion.
The 2nd Amendment is also a Right since self-defense is an essential Right. It is also a Right we are fighting to protect. For far too long we were on defense, and losing ground. We went from 1939 to 2008 with the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) taking no 2nd Amendment cases. In 2026 SCOTUS will be ruling on Hawaii’s horrific law requiring permission to lawfully carry a firearm on publicly accessible private property. Recently the Federal District Court in North Texas ruled the US Postal Service’s ban on firearms on the property of the Postal Service is unconstitutional under the “text, history, and tradition” standard from the landmark Bruen decision from 2022.
After many decades the defenders of the 2nd Amendment are finally on the offensive. As all of us have heard for many years, the best defense is a good offense.
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