The concurring opinion by Justice Thomas contains a superior historical review of the oppression of blacks during and after the post-Civil War reconstruction period. His opinion presents evidence showing that the Ratifiers of the 14th Amendment intended that the right to keep and bear arms was one of the privileges and immunities protected against infringement by the states as well as the national government, and that the right to bear arms during the reconstruction period was a necessity for self-protection by blacks against lawless state governements. The entire opinion is 214 pages long, of which the concurring opinion by Justice Thomas comprises 56 of those pages.