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

Suggested Citation

Page, Daniel Richard, 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 (May 4, 2011). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1859395 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1859395

Daniel Richard Page (Contact Author)

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

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