State Constitutional Right to keep and bear arms

[Kimber1911_06238]

http://www.law.ucla.edu/volokh/beararms/statecon.htm

check your state out. I wasn't that shocked at all the restrictions in the MA constitution

 

[cbsbyte]

Massachusetts: The people have a right to keep and to bear arms for the common defence. And as, in time of peace, armies are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be maintained without the consent of the legislature; and the military power shall always be held in an exact subordination to the civil authority, and be governed by it.

Sounds pretty clear to me. Too bad in 1976 the state supreme court ruled that the RKBA is a collective right of the Government and not of the people. :banghead: Its been down hill ever since.

 

[Kingcreek]

Illinois: Subject only to the police power, the right of the individual citizen to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
I already knew what it said but it makes me sad to see it in print again. Illinois is the only state that words it this way. Pathetic...
Then again..., California has no provision...

 

[ServiceSoon]

Kingcreek: Are you for real or is that sarcastic?

 

[Kingcreek]

Dead serious. Check the link yourself.
I am a 50 year resident of Illinois.

 

[target1911]

Texas: Every citizen shall have the right to keep and bear arms in the lawful defense of himself or the State; but the Legislature shall have power, by law, to regulate the wearing of arms, with a view to prevent crime. Art. I, § 23 (enacted 1876).
1836: "Every citizen shall have the right to bear arms in defence of himself and the republic. The military shall at all times and in all cases be subordinate to the civil power." Declaration of Rights, cl. 14.
1845: "Every citizen shall have the right to keep and bear arms in lawful defence of himself or the State." Art. I, § 13.
1868: "Every person shall have the right to keep and bear arms in the lawful defence of himself or the State, under such regulations as the legislature may prescribe." Art. I, § 13.

[Self-defense right explicitly protected.]

NOW...if we could just remove all that is written in red.

 

[Reddbecca]

Kansas: The people have the right to bear arms for their defense and security; but standing armies, in time of peace, are dangerous to liberty, and shall not be tolerated, and the military shall be in strict subordination to the civil power. Bill of Rights, § 4 (enacted 1859, art. I, § 4).

[Interpreted as collective right only, City of Salina v. Blaksley, 83 P. 619 (Kan. 1905), adhered to by City of Junction City v. Lee, 532 P.2d 1292 (Kan. 1975). But see City of Junction City v. Mevis, 601 P.2d 1145, 1151 (Kan. 1979) (striking down a gun control law, challenged by an individual citizen, on the grounds that it was “unconstitutionally overbroad,” and thus implicitly concluding that the right to bear arms did indeed belong to individual citizens).]

 

[Mainsail]

Washington: The right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself, or the state, shall not be impaired, but nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing individuals or corporations to organize, maintain or employ an armed body of men. Art. I, § 24 (enacted 1889).

We rock.

 

[cjankowski]

From the Arkansas State constitution:

Article 2.
Declaration of Rights

5. The citizens of this State shall have the right to keep and bear arms, for their common defense.

 

[joffe]

Not my state, but where I wish to move and where my heart lives (even though my body and mind is still stuck in Occupied Territory):

[Art.] 2-a. [The Bearing of Arms.] All persons have the right to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves, their families, their property and the state.

Nothing unclear there. NH has the best state constitution. Others of note regarding state oppression and the federal government:

[Art.] 10. [Right of Revolution.] Government being instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security, of the whole community, and not for the private interest or emolument of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, whenever the ends of government are perverted, and public liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means of redress are ineffectual, the people may, and of right ought to reform the old, or establish a new government. The doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.

[Art.] 7. [State Sovereignty.] The people of this state have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign, and independent state; and do, and forever hereafter shall, exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, and right, pertaining thereto, which is not, or may not hereafter be, by them expressly delegated to the United States of America in congress assembled.

No others states explicitly recognize their own sovereignty or the right to revolution, even though that's how the USA was born.

http://www.nh.gov/constitution/billofrights.html

 

[RoadkingLarry]

Oklahoma: The right of a citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person, or property, or in aid of the civil power, when thereunto legally summoned, shall never be prohibited; but nothing herein contained shall prevent the Legislature from regulating the carrying of weapons. Art. II, § 26 (enacted 1907).

We got it pretty good here in the Sooner State! Shall issue, Castle Doctrine and Stand Your Ground, about all we lack is OC.
(Disclaimer - Yes it could be better if didn't have all the BS federal stuff and arguably a CCW permit is restricting a God given right but it still beats the heck out of Illinois)