Dangerous and Unusual Misdirection: A Look at the Common Law Tradition of Prohibiting Going Armed with Dangerous and Unusual Weapons to the Terror of the People, as Cited in District of Columbia versus Heller
32 Pages Posted: 8 Jun 2011 Last revised: 28 Jun 2011
Date Written: May 4, 2011
Abstract
In dicta, the Supreme Court in Heller cited the historical ban on “Dangerous and Unusual Weapons” to support a common use test on statutes that ban certain types of weapons considered to be, “dangerous and unusual." This paper examines the historical use and definition of the phrase, “Dangerous and Unusual Weapons,” and concludes that it refers not to a class of weapons, but to a class of behavior.
Keywords: dangerous firearms, unusual firearms, firearm, keeping dangerous and unusual weapons, terror of the people, arms, weapons, guns, gun control, weapon, Heller, common use. second amendment, 2nd Amendment, right to bear arms, right to keep and bear arms, affray
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