Gun Control & the Second Amendment

Updated July 2026 21 primary sources

The gun debate has intensified in 2025-2026 amid major Supreme Court rulings, a federal deregulation push, and a high-profile shooting near the White House.

Supreme Court struck down a federal gun ban tied to drug use — Its unanimous ruling in United States v. Hemani invalidated a law barring marijuana users from possessing firearms (U.S. News & World Report).
Court also voided Hawaii's concealed-carry "vampire rule" — A 6-3 decision in Wolford v. Lopez struck down the state's default ban on carrying in private businesses open to the public (Cornell Law School).
Trump administration rolled back 30+ federal firearms rules — Including background-check and dealer-licensing regulations (The New York Times).
An April 25, 2026 shooting near the White House Correspondents' Dinner raised the stakes — A gunman armed with a shotgun, pistol, and knives attempted to breach a security checkpoint near President Trump and other officials (NPR; Wikipedia).
Gun-safety advocates cited the shooting when criticizing the rollback — Announced just days after the incident (Everytown for Gun Safety).

The Two Positions

Where each side stands

Every point below is sourced to a real organization, official, or news report — click through to read it in full context.

Conservative

Self-defense is a fundamental, individual right

The right to keep and bear arms is centered on the natural right of self-defense, not merely hunting or militia service, and belongs to individuals rather than collective bodies (The Heritage Foundation).

Courts should apply text, history, and tradition, not modern policy preferences

Following the Supreme Court's Bruen framework, gun laws must be justified by historical analogues; recent rulings like Wolford v. Lopez struck down Hawaii's default ban on carrying in private businesses because the state could not show a comparable historical tradition (Cornell Law School).

Status-based gun bans unfairly strip rights from law-abiding people

The unanimous Hemani ruling shows that the government cannot disarm someone based on ambiguous categories like occasional drug use rather than individualized evidence of dangerousness, a principle Cato Institute researchers say protects millions of lawful cannabis users from losing their rights (Cato Institute).

Federal regulations often burden lawful gun owners without stopping crime

Gun Owners of America has urged Congress to repeal Biden-era gun-control measures and even abolish the ATF, arguing that criminals ignore gun laws while law-abiding owners bear the compliance costs (National Today).

National concealed-carry reciprocity would harmonize a patchwork of state laws

Senators John Cornyn, Ted Cruz, and colleagues argue that a state-issued concealed-carry permit should be honored nationwide much like a driver's license, protecting travelers' Second Amendment rights without imposing a federal permitting system (Senator Cornyn's office).

Red-flag laws raise due-process concerns

The NRA-ILA contends that extreme-risk protection order laws strip firearms from citizens based on a flawed premise and often lack robust due-process protections, and it opposes efforts to expand them (NRA-ILA).

Progressive

Stronger state gun laws correlate with fewer gun deaths

Everytown's 2026 State Gun Law Rankings found that if every state matched the gun-death rates of the ten states with the strongest laws, roughly 262,000 lives could be saved over the next decade (Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund).

Rolling back federal oversight amid rising political violence is dangerous

Everytown criticized the Trump administration's decision to gut ATF rules just days after the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting, with president John Feinblatt calling it "gun lobby giveaways" that undermine the only federal agency devoted to keeping guns from criminals (Everytown for Gun Safety).

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act shows targeted reforms reduce violence

Senator Chris Murphy points to a 41% decline in mass shootings from 2021 to 2025 and a nearly 17% drop in urban gun homicides since the 2022 law's enhanced background checks and red-flag funding took effect (Senator Chris Murphy's office).

Court rulings expanding carry rights undermine property owners' and communities' safety choices

GIFFORDS Law Center and Brady argued that the Wolford v. Lopez decision imposes a "guns everywhere" agenda that overrides the wishes of business and property owners who prefer to keep firearms out of spaces frequented by families (GIFFORDS Law Center).

DIY machine-gun conversion devices represent an urgent, addressable danger

Everytown has testified that certain semiautomatic pistols can be easily converted into illegal machine guns with a "Glock switch," and has pushed several states to ban the sale of convertible firearm designs (Everytown for Gun Safety testimony to the Maryland legislature).

Closing background-check and domestic-violence loopholes saves lives

Brady Campaign testimony to the Maryland legislature emphasizes that firearms should be kept from domestic-violence respondents and that gun-dealer training requirements are a "bulwark against gun violence" (Brady Campaign testimony).

Common Ground

Key facts both sides cite

Data and polling that inform the debate — both camps draw on these figures, even when they read them differently.

Gun deaths remain historically high but have declined recently — 44,447 Americans died from gun-related injuries in 2024 (the fifth-highest total since 1968), with the rate per 100,000 people below its 1974 peak, and 2025 preliminary data suggests continued declines in homicides (Pew Research Center).

Polling shows broad support for specific measures but a partisan divide on the bigger picture — Gallup's 2026 tracking finds 56% of Americans favor stricter gun laws overall and 52% support an assault weapons ban, but only 20% favor banning handguns; support for an assault weapons ban has fallen among Republicans while remaining high among Democrats (Gallup).

Americans are closely divided on the core rights-versus-control tradeoff — Pew Research found the public split almost evenly on whether protecting gun rights or controlling gun ownership is more important, with 83% of Republicans prioritizing gun rights and 79% of Democrats prioritizing control (Pew Research Center).

Two major 2025-2026 Supreme Court rulings reshaped the legal landscape — United States v. Hemani (9-0) narrowed who can be disarmed for drug use, and Wolford v. Lopez (6-3) struck down Hawaii's default rule barring concealed carry on private property without owner consent — both decisions are publicly available from the Court itself (Supreme Court opinion, Hemani; Supreme Court opinion, Wolford).

Sources

Every citation on this page

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