The Second Amendment on Trial

The Second Amendment on Trial PDF Author: Saul Cornell
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781558499942
Category : Firearms
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
On the final day of its 2008 term, a sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-to-4 decision striking down the District of Columbia's stringent gun control laws as a violation of the Second Amendment. Reversing almost seventy years of settled precedent, the high court reinterpreted the meaning of the "right of the people to keep and bear arms" to affirm an individual right to own a gun in the home for purposes of self-defense. The landmark ruling not only opened a new chapter in the contentious history of gun rights and gun control but also revealed both the strengths and problems of originalist constitutional theory and jurisprudence. This volume brings together some of the best scholarship on the Heller case, with essays by legal scholars and historians representing a range of ideological viewpoints and applying different interpretive frameworks. Following the editors' introduction, which describes the issues involved and the arguments on each side, the essays are organized into four sections. The first includes two of the most important historical briefs filed in the case, while the second offers different views of the role of originalist theory. Section three presents opposing interpretations of the ruling and its relationship to modern constitutional doctrine. The final section explores historical research post-Heller, including new findings on patterns of gun ownership in colonial and Revolutionary America. In addition to the editors, contributors include Nelson Lund, Joyce Lee Malcolm, Jack Rakove, Reva B. Siegel, Cass R. Sunstein, Kevin M. Sweeney, and J. Harvie Wilkinson III.

The Second Amendment on Trial

The Second Amendment on Trial PDF Author: Saul Cornell
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781558499942
Category : Firearms
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
On the final day of its 2008 term, a sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-to-4 decision striking down the District of Columbia's stringent gun control laws as a violation of the Second Amendment. Reversing almost seventy years of settled precedent, the high court reinterpreted the meaning of the "right of the people to keep and bear arms" to affirm an individual right to own a gun in the home for purposes of self-defense. The landmark ruling not only opened a new chapter in the contentious history of gun rights and gun control but also revealed both the strengths and problems of originalist constitutional theory and jurisprudence. This volume brings together some of the best scholarship on the Heller case, with essays by legal scholars and historians representing a range of ideological viewpoints and applying different interpretive frameworks. Following the editors' introduction, which describes the issues involved and the arguments on each side, the essays are organized into four sections. The first includes two of the most important historical briefs filed in the case, while the second offers different views of the role of originalist theory. Section three presents opposing interpretations of the ruling and its relationship to modern constitutional doctrine. The final section explores historical research post-Heller, including new findings on patterns of gun ownership in colonial and Revolutionary America. In addition to the editors, contributors include Nelson Lund, Joyce Lee Malcolm, Jack Rakove, Reva B. Siegel, Cass R. Sunstein, Kevin M. Sweeney, and J. Harvie Wilkinson III.

Gun Control on Trial

Gun Control on Trial PDF Author: Brian Doherty
Publisher: Cato Institute
ISBN: 193399598X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 170

Get Book

Book Description
In June 2008, the Supreme Court had its first opportunity in seven decades to decide a question at the heart of one of America’s most impassioned debates: Do Americans have a right to possess guns? Gun Control on Trial tells the full story of the Court’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, which ended the District’s gun ban. With exclusive behind-the-scenes access throughout the process, author Brian Doherty is uniquely positioned to delve into the issues of this monumental case and provides compelling looks at the inside stories, including the plaintiffs’ fight for the right to protect their lives, the activist lawyers who worked to affirm that right, and the forces who fought to stop the case.

The Second Amendment on Trial

The Second Amendment on Trial PDF Author: Saul Cornell
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781558499959
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
On the final day of its 2008 term, a sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-to-4 decision striking down the District of Columbia's stringent gun control laws as a violation of the Second Amendment. Reversing almost seventy years of settled precedent, the high court reinterpreted the meaning of the "right of the people to keep and bear arms" to affirm an individual right to own a gun in the home for purposes of self-defense. The landmark ruling not only opened a new chapter in the contentious history of gun rights and gun control but also revealed both the strengths and problems of originalist constitutional theory and jurisprudence. This volume brings together some of the best scholarship on the Heller case, with essays by legal scholars and historians representing a range of ideological viewpoints and applying different interpretive frameworks. Following the editors' introduction, which describes the issues involved and the arguments on each side, the essays are organized into four sections. The first includes two of the most important historical briefs filed in the case, while the second offers different views of the role of originalist theory. Section three presents opposing interpretations of the ruling and its relationship to modern constitutional doctrine. The final section explores historical research post-Heller, including new findings on patterns of gun ownership in colonial and Revolutionary America. In addition to the editors, contributors include Nelson Lund, Joyce Lee Malcolm, Jack Rakove, Reva B. Siegel, Cass R. Sunstein, Kevin M. Sweeney, and J. Harvie Wilkinson III.

Gun Control on Trial

Gun Control on Trial PDF Author: Brian Doherty
Publisher: Cato Institute
ISBN: 1933995254
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 165

Get Book

Book Description
"On June 26, 2008, the Supreme Court had its first opportunity in seven decades to address one of America's most impassioned constitutional debates: does the right to possess firearms, as stated in the Second Amendment, apply to individuals? Yes, the Court ruled, it does. And, with that decision, the District's handgun ban - one of the toughest and most controversial in the nation - was ended." "In Gun Control on Trial, journalist Brian Doherty tells the full story behind the landmark District of Columbia v. Heller ruling. With exclusive, behind-the-scenes access throughout the case, Doherty takes readers on a remarkable journey - through the legal, scientific, and historical debates; the political battles; and the myths about gun control that have become widespread." "But, beyond the legal arguments are the stories of the people involved in the case. Detailed in Gun Control on Trial are compelling portraits of the plaintiffs - individuals willing to fight for their right to protect themselves and their families from violent criminals, the activist lawyers, who worked exhaustively for their clients, and the city officials who fought any attempt to give their citizens the right to self-defense." "The Heller decision does not settle every controversy in the gun control debate. What it did do, Doherty writes, is create "a new shape to the arena in which the legal and political struggle over guns and gun control will be fought." Gun Control on Trial describes the ground on which that fight will take place."--BOOK JACKET.

Living with Guns

Living with Guns PDF Author: Craig Whitney
Publisher: Public Affairs
ISBN: 1610391691
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Get Book

Book Description
A former editor at the New York Times examines the war over gun control in America and the rigid and intolerant ideologies that have informed the debate on both sides for more than 50 years. 20,000 first printing.

This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed

This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed PDF Author: Charles E. Cobb
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465080952
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Get Book

Book Description
Visiting Martin Luther King, Jr. at the peak of the civil rights movement, the journalist William Worthy almost sat on a loaded pistol. “Just for self-defense,” King assured him. One of King's advisors remembered the reverend's home as “an arsenal.” Like King, many nonviolent activists embraced their constitutional right to self-protection—yet this crucial dimension of the civil rights struggle has been long ignored. In This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed, civil rights scholar Charles E. Cobb, Jr. reveals how nonviolent activists and their allies kept the civil rights movement alive by bearing—and, when necessary, using—firearms. Whether patrolling their neighborhoods, garrisoning their homes, or firing back at attackers, these men and women were crucial to the movement's success, as were the weapons they carried. Drawing on his firsthand experiences in the Southern Freedom Movement and interviews with fellow participants, Cobb offers a controversial examination of the vital role guns have played in securing American liberties.

The Militia and the Right to Arms, or, How the Second Amendment Fell Silent

The Militia and the Right to Arms, or, How the Second Amendment Fell Silent PDF Author: H. Richard Uviller
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 0822384272
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 353

Get Book

Book Description
"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." —Amendment II, United States Constitution The Second Amendment is regularly invoked by opponents of gun control, but H. Richard Uviller and William G. Merkel argue the amendment has nothing to contribute to debates over private access to firearms. In The Militia and the Right to Arms, or, How the Second Amendment Fell Silent, Uviller and Merkel show how postratification history has sapped the Second Amendment of its meaning. Starting with a detailed examination of the political principles of the founders, the authors build the case that the amendment's second clause (declaring the right to bear arms) depends entirely on the premise set out in the amendment's first clause (stating that a well-regulated militia is necessary to the security of a free state). The authors demonstrate that the militia envisioned by the framers of the Bill of Rights in 1789 has long since disappeared from the American scene, leaving no lineal descendants. The constitutional right to bear arms, Uviller and Merkel conclude, has evaporated along with the universal militia of the eighteenth century. Using records from the founding era, Uviller and Merkel explain that the Second Amendment was motivated by a deep fear of standing armies. To guard against the debilitating effects of militarism, and against the ultimate danger of a would-be Caesar at the head of a great professional army, the founders sought to guarantee the existence of well-trained, self-armed, locally commanded citizen militia, in which service was compulsory. By its very existence, this militia would obviate the need for a large and dangerous regular army. But as Uviller and Merkel describe the gradual rise of the United States Army and the National Guard over the last two hundred years, they highlight the nation's abandonment of the militia ideal so dear to the framers. The authors discuss issues of constitutional interpretation in light of radically changed social circumstances and contrast their position with the arguments of a diverse group of constitutional scholars including Sanford Levinson, Carl Bogus, William Van Alstyne, and Akhil Reed Amar. Espousing a centrist position in the polarized arena of Second Amendment interpretation, this book will appeal to those wanting to know more about the amendment's relevance to the issue of gun control, as well as to those interested in the constitutional and political context of America's military history.

Whose Right Is It? The Second Amendment and the Fight Over Guns

Whose Right Is It? The Second Amendment and the Fight Over Guns PDF Author: Hana Bajramovic
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company (BYR)
ISBN: 1250224276
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book

Book Description
Discover the truth about the Second Amendment, the NRA, and the United States’ centuries-long fight over guns in this first-of-its-kind book for middle grade readers. "A compelling, clear analysis of one of our country’s oldest dilemmas: how to balance gun rights with public safety. It tells the full and true story of the Second Amendment, and points to a way to bring sanity to our gun laws. A remarkable primer for all ages." —Michael Waldman, author of The Second Amendment: A Biography For the majority of the United States’ history, the right to own a gun belonged to a “well regulated militia.” That changed in 2008 with the historic District of Columbia v. Heller case, which ruled that the Second Amendment protected an individual’s right. In the years since, the debate over gun legislation has reached a crescendo. And the issue grows ever relevant to children across America, with an estimated three million exposed to shootings every year. From metal detectors to see-through backpacks to shooting drills, kids face daily reminders of the threat of guns. Hana Bajramovic's Whose Right Is It? The Second Amendment and the Fight Over Guns reveals how a once obscure amendment became the focus of daily heated debate. Filled with historical photos and informative graphics, the book will show young readers how gun legislation has always been a part of American history and how money, power, and systemic racism have long dictated our ability to own guns. A Junior Library Guild Selection "Hana Bajramovic provides readers with a compelling overview on the history of guns in the United States and the changing, conflicting interpretations of the Second Amendment certain to stimulate conversation and thinking on the part of future generations." —Award-winning author Doreen Rappaport

Constitution

Constitution PDF Author: United States
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 66

Get Book

Book Description


The Second Amendment

The Second Amendment PDF Author: Patrick J. Charles
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786452730
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 231

Get Book

Book Description
"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." Legal historians, analysts, judges and commentators have long disagreed about the original scope and intent of these words, making up the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. Individual right theorists interpret it as protecting the personal privilege to own and carry firearms, while collective right theorists interpret it as only protecting the privilege of a collective society to bear arms in relation to militia service. This book examines the contentions of both groups and concludes that the amendment is meant only to protect the right of an individual to "keep and bear arms" for the purpose of defending the country in a militia force against standing foreign or domestic armies. In crafting his argument, the author examines the Second Amendment in exacting detail. On June 28, 2010, the book was cited by Associate Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer in a dissenting opinion for the landmark case McDonald v. City of Chicago.