Heller v. District of Columbia and Racially-Related Propensity to Shoot

I. Writing "A Well Regulated Militia" Out of the Second Amendment
The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads as follows: "A well regulated Militia. being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." In Heller v. District of Columbia, Justice Antonin Scalia, in his majority opinion,  said the "well regulated Militia" clause was "prefatory" and had no operative effect. Poof!  it was gone.

As John Paul Stevens wrote in his minority opinion: "The  Second Amendment was a response to concerns raised during the ratification of the Constitution that the power of Congress to disarm the state militias and create a national standing army posed an intolerable threat to the sovereignty of the several states." Stevens pointed out that the term "bear arms" was most commonly used in the 18th century to describe participation in the military. There was not the slightest interest in the text of the Amendment nor the arguments advanced to limit any legislature's authority to regulate private civilians uses of firearms. James Madison's notes on the Constitutional Convention and on the floor of the House of Representatives, as the Second Amendment was written, contain no discussion of an individual right to keep and bear arms. All the talk was of a militia.

Even in the colonies at the time the Second Amendment was  enacted, there were limits on where gunpowder could be stored; moreover, Boston didn't allow a loaded gun in a house.

In his majority opinion, Justice Scalia refused to acknowledge that he was overturning United States v. Miller, the Court's venerable Second Amendment precedent. The banning of the sub-machine gun, a weapon favored by nationally-known gangsters such as "Babyface" Nelson, was a clear indication that the right to keep and bear arms was not absolute.  A footnote in the Miller decision tied the Second Amendment to a "well regulated Militia."

Justice Scalia stopped short of extending individual gun rights beyond "hearth and home"; also, his majority decision did not rule out the power of governing bodies to regulate firearms. [1] In regard to home defense firearms, Justice Scalia is apparently unaware that all relevant studies have shown that a home-defense firearm causes far more injuries and deaths to family members and visitors than it does to unlawful intruders.

Since 2008, several federal courts have upheld state rules that allow law officials' discretion in issuing concealed-carry licenses. The number of states with lenient or no concealed-carry permitting requirements has grown significantly since Heller. [2] Thus, although Heller has not put a stop to the regulation of firearms, it has placed another barrier to such regulation.  

II. Racially-Related Differences in Propensity to Shoot
Denver police officers and community members were shown photos of black and white men -- some holding guns, others holding harmless objects like wallets -- and asked to press the "shoot" or "don't shoot" button for each image. The result: Cops were better than community members at determining whether a target was armed (and they fired faster), but they still showed bias against black targets.

1. Propensity to shoot - Tendency to shoot at black or white targets, based on test outcomes. For officers the tendency to shoot at black targets was measured at between .02 and .04 and for white targets the tendency was actually below 0. For community members the tendency was between .08 and .10 for black targets and between .02 and .04 for white targets.

2. Participants are slower to press "don't shoot" when unarmed target is black. - Milliseconds elapsed before shooting  For officers the response time was between 650 and 655 milliseconds for black targets and between 635 and 640 for white targets. For community members the response time was between 660 and 665 for black targets and between 645 and 650 for white targets.

3. Participants are quicker to press "shoot" when an armed target is black. - Milliseconds elapsed before response. For officers the response time was 560 for black targets and between 570 and 575 for white targets. For community members the response time was between 565 and 570 for black targets and between 575 and 580 for white targets. [3]

Footnotes
[1] Dorothy Samuels, "The Second Amendment Was Never Meant to Protect an Individual's Right to a Gun," The Nation, September 23, 2015.
[2] Ibid.

[3] "Armed and Dangerous?" Mother Jones, January/February 2015.