<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The Second Amendment (Amendment II) to the United States Constitution protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms and was adopted on December 15, 1791, as part of the first ten amendments contained in the Bill of Rights . The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that the right belongs to individuals for self defence, but "Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited ...". It is "...not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose ." "Nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms ." while also ruling that the right is not unlimited and does not prohibit all regulation of either firearms or similar devices . State and local governments are limited to the same extent as the federal government from infringing this right, per the incorporation of the Bill of Rights . </P> <P> The Second Amendment was based partially on the right to keep and bear arms in English common law and was influenced by the English Bill of Rights of 1689 . Sir William Blackstone described this right as an auxiliary right, supporting the natural rights of self - defense and resistance to oppression, and the civic duty to act in concert in defense of the state . </P>

What is the second amendment and when was it ratified