The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution provides for the right to keep and bear arms, and reads: "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."

Some people believe this language creates a Constitutional, individual right for citizens of the United States to keep and bear arms, and prohibits Congress and state legislatures from prohibiting or restricting the possession of firearms.

Others believe the beginning words ("A well regulated militia being necessary”) indicate the intent of the Amendment was only to restrict Congress from limiting a state’s right to self-defense. This collective rights theory of the Second Amendment holds that citizens do not have an individual right to possess firearms, and that federal, state, and local legislative bodies may regulate the possession of firearms without implicating a Constitutional right.

At the time the First Amendment was ratified, some militia members used their own weapons, and some used weapons from their state’s militia stores.

In Indiana, as in the rest of the United States, the Second Amendment is recognized as providing a constitutional right to keep and bear arms. This interpretation was reinforced by the Supreme Court decisions in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010), which affirmed that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to possess a firearm for lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home, and that this right is applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. Indiana state statutes reflect a strong tradition of supporting the rights of individuals to own and carry firearms. The state has enacted laws that permit the carrying of concealed weapons with a license and has a 'red flag' law that allows law enforcement to temporarily remove firearms from individuals deemed a risk to themselves or others. However, Indiana also respects the federal regulations that impose certain restrictions on firearm possession, such as background checks and restrictions on ownership for certain categories of individuals (e.g., felons, individuals with mental illness). The debate between the individual rights and collective rights interpretations of the Second Amendment continues, but current legal precedent and state law in Indiana favor the individual rights perspective.