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. The Second Amendment To The Constitution Of The United States The right to keep and bear arms, permanently enshrined in the Second Amendment to The Constitution, is one of the American citizen's most cherished rights, and one of its most controversial. Since the founding of the Republic, this single sentence has generated continual legal debate, with judges and legal scholars haggling over the meanings of every word.