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The Bill of Rights
Constitutional Amendments : Encyclopedia of the People, Procedures, Politics, Primary Documents Relating to the 27 Amendments to the U.S. Constitution
A Well-Regulated Militia by
Americans are deeply divided over the Second Amendment. Some passionately assert that the Amendment protects an individual's right to own guns. Others, that it does no more than protect the right of states to maintain militias. Now, in the first and only comprehensive history of this bittercontroversy, Saul Cornell proves conclusively that both sides are wrong.Cornell, a leading constitutional historian, shows that the Founders understood the right to bear arms as neither an individual nor a collective right, but as a civic right--an obligation citizens owed to the state to arm themselves so that they could participate in a well regulated militia. Heshows how the modern "collective right" view of the Second Amendment, the one federal courts have accepted for over a hundred years, owes more to the Anti-Federalists than the Founders. Likewise, the modern "individual right" view emerged only in the nineteenth century. The modern debate, Cornellreveals, has its roots in the nineteenth century, during America's first and now largely forgotten gun violence crisis, when the earliest gun control laws were passed and the first cases on the right to bear arms came before the courts. Equally important, he describes how the gun control battle tookon a new urgency during Reconstruction, when Republicans and Democrats clashed over the meaning of the right to bear arms and its connection to the Fourteenth Amendment. When the Democrats defeated the Republicans, it elevated the "collective rights" theory to preeminence and set the terms forconstitutional debate over this issue for the next century.A Well-Regulated Militia not only restores the lost meaning of the original Second Amendment, but it provides a clear historical road map that charts how we have arrived at our current impasse over guns. For anyone interested in understanding the great American gun debate, this is a mustread.
Gun Control in the United States: a Reference Handbook, 2nd Edition by
This up-to-date second-edition work will stimulate and clarify readers' thinking on the key issues surrounding guns in the United States--especially on the debate over gun control. Most public debate and discussion about guns in U.S. society is rarely guided by research--not surprising, as most individuals have a personal opinion on this highly inflammatory topic based on their upbringing or personal experiences. Additionally, most research about gun use in America is confusing and contradictory, making it difficult for citizens to gain much from their attempts to investigate the topic objectively. This book offers concise, understandable coverage of all aspects of the issue, including incidence of gun violence; gun control; gun rights; government regulation, legislation, and court decisions; gun organizations (for gun control and for gun rights); gun enthusiast subcultures--for example, hunters, target shooters, and collectors; and U.S. attitudes toward guns. Many of the covered topics are placed in historical and cross-cultural perspective. The new edition of Gun Control in the United States: A Reference Handbook enables the reader to navigate and interpret the research to become sufficiently educated on any specific aspect of the gun issue to make an informed decision--for example, whether to support stricter or more lenient gun control; whether to become a gun owner; whether to support a particular political party or candidate; or whether to develop or to refine a particular philosophy regarding guns. Other aspects of the contemporary gun debate that are addressed include whether the Supreme Court's ruling that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right will withstand future challenges, whether the strong gun regulations used in Europe would be effective and applicable in reducing gun violence in the United States, and whether the diversity explosion created by the high rate of immigration from countries where guns are strictly controlled will soon change the politics of the U.S. gun control debate. Provides a balanced view of the contemporary gun debate in the United States, explaining the positions of both gun rights proponents and advocates of stricter gun control without demonizing either Draws on a vast array of research in criminology, history, law, medicine, politics, and social science to provide one of the most comprehensive single-source references on gun issues Presents current and historical data on U.S. gun violence--including homicides, suicides, and accidental shoots--and places these numbers against international statistics on gun violence, thereby providing the context to enable readers to reach their own opinion on the gun debate
Defining Documents in American History: The Gun Debate
Beginning with the drafting of the Constitution itself up to the present day, there have been intense arguments made both for and against the rights of citizens to form a "well-regulated militia" as set forth in the Second Amendment. The arguments have become more impassioned in recent years due to the rising number of incidents of school and mass shootings. This volume analyzes documents that have played a significant role in the attempt to balance the long tradition of gun culture in this country with calls for gun control, including: The Second Amendment; St. George Tucker, Blackstone's Commentaries; No Treason by Lysander Spooner; U.S. v. Miller; District of Columbia v. Heller and Firearms in America: Personal Liberty versus Collective Responsibility.
The documents linked below were prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff to congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of Congress.
The resources in this box are designed to give both background and current information for a wide range of current topics of note. The beauty of these sources is the way they integrate reference materials (for overview and context) along with a diverse range of secondary and primary sources to allow you, the researcher, to quickly generate an informed opinion on the major issues facing the world.
