The Second Amendment states "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 first 13 words qualify the next 14. The U.S. Supreme Court in U.S. v Miller, (1939), held that unless the holding of arms has some reasonable relationship to the preservation of the efficiency of a well-regulated militia, it cannot be said that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear arms.