Second Amendment Commons^™

Treating The Pen And The Sword As Constitutional Equals: How And Why The Supreme Court Should Apply Its First Amendment Expertise To The Great Second Amendment Debate, David G. Browne

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Blunderbuss Scholarship: Perverting The Original Intent And Plain Meaning Of The Second Amendment, Kenneth Lasson

University of Baltimore Law Review

No abstract provided.

Is There Insurance Coverage For Lawsuits Against The Firearm Industry?, Walter J. Andrews, Michael S. Levine

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Disappearing Settlement: The Contractual Regulation Of Smith & Wesson Firearms, Charles C. Sipos

Vanderbilt Law Review

Consider three transactions: (1) federal legislation passed by Congress; (2) an order of judgment in a private lawsuit; and (3) a contractual arrangement between private parties. If one were asked to rank those transactions in order of the potential impact they should have on public and social policy, they would probably appear in the order that they are listed. Intuition, experience, and plain common sense might likely lead to the conclusion that legislation has the greatest impact on public policy, private agreements the least,' and final judgments in litigation somewhere in between. Democratic principles provide very good reasons for this …

The Inconvenient Militia Clause Of The Second Amendment: Why The Supreme Court Declines To Resolve The Debate Over The Rights To Bear Arms, Robert M. Hardaway, Elizabeth Gormley, Bryan Taylor

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

There are sound public policy reasons why gun ownership by law abiding citizens in a free society should be protected. Good public policy, however, cannot be formulated as long as there remain fundamental misconceptions about the meaning and history of the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the law interpreting it. In August of 1994, an exasperated American Bar Association, finding itself unable to match the Gun Lobby's publicity campaigns, pleaded for help from the legal profession to educate the American public about the meaning of the Second Amendment and the intent of the Constitutional Framers. Specifically, the ABA …

Redefining The Second Amendment: The Antebellum Right To Keep And Bear Arms And Its Present Legacy, Haydn J. Richards Jr.

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Shooting Blanks: The Supreme Court's Flawed Analysis In Mcdonald V. City Of Chicago, Emily Horowitz

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Taking Aim At An American Myth, Paul Finkelman

Michigan Law Review

Every American had a musket hanging over his fireplace at night, and by his side during the day. Like Cincinnatus, time and again Americans dropped their plows to shoulder their arms, to fight the Indians, the French, the Indians, the British, the Indians, the Mexicans, the Indians yet again, and then, from 1861 to 1865, each other. American men were comfortable with guns; they needed them and wanted them. They felt at home in woods, in search of food, or in defense of their homesteads. It is a story as old as our first pulp novels and earliest movies. It …

What Does The Second Amendment Restrict? A Collective Rights Analysis, Carl Bogus

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Requiring Accountability Among Those Who Sell Firearms: Ignorance Of The Law Should Not Be An Excuse, Uri Matthew Myerson

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Second Amendment: Structure, History, And Constitutional Change, David S. Yassky

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Part I of the Article engages the revisionists squarely on the turf they have staked out: the intent of those who framed and ratified the Second Amendment. Here I credit the revisionists with some important insights. Their research reminds us how greatly the world in which the Second Amendment was adopted differed from our own. This perspective helps us understand how the Founders could have placed the right to bear arms on par with the right to free speech--a decision that baffles many modern Americans. Yet while the revisionists correctly perceive that the right to keep and bear arms was …

The Second Amendment: Structure, History, And Constitutional Change, David Yassky

Michigan Law Review

A fierce debate about the Second Amendment has been percolating in academia for two decades, and has now bubbled through to the courts. The question at the heart of this debate is whether the Amendment restricts the government's ability to regulate the private possession of firearms. Since at least 1939 - when the Supreme Court decided United States v. Miller, its only decision squarely addressing the scope of the right to "keep and bear Arms" - the answer to that question has been an unqualified "no." Courts have brushed aside Second Amendment challenges to gun control legislation, reading the Amendment …

Natural Rights And The Second Amendment, Steven J. Heyman

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Panelist (Symposium: The Second Amendment), David S. Yassky

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

To understand the Second Amendment and what the Founders who wrote it were trying to do, you have to understand the conceptual framework that they were working in. And that conceptual framework is based on two concepts regarding the military: the concept of the army and the concept of the militia.

The Second Amendment is about how the military power of the United States should be organized. It grew out of one of the most pretentious issues faced by the Philadelphia Convention, which was: what military power should they give this new Federal Government? They're sitting down to write the …

Lawsuits Against The Gun Industry: A Comparative Institutional Analysis, Timothy D. Lytton

Faculty Publications By Year

I argue that the tort system can complement the efforts of either institutions such as markets, legislatures and administrative agencies to make public policy. Solving complex social problems typically requires the cooperation of several policymaking institutions, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. My examination of lawsuits against the gun industry reveals that the tort system can and should play an active policymaking role in reducing gun violence.

United States V. Emerson: The Second Amendment As An Individual Right--Time To Settle The Issue, Scott A. Henderson

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tench Coxe And The Right To Keep And Bear Arms, 1787-1823, Stephen P. Halbrook, David B. Kopel

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Tench Coxe, a member of the second rank of this nation's Founders and a leading proponent of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, wrote prolifically about the right to keep and bear arms. In this Article, the authors trace Coxe 's story, from his early writings in support of the Constitution, through his years of public service, to his political writings in opposition to the presidential campaigns of John Adams and John Quincy Adams. The authors note that Coxe described the Second Amendment as guaranteeing an individual right, and believed that an individual right to bear arms was necessary …

Too Much (Legislation) Is Never Enough: Utilizing A Court's Equity Power To Enjoin Lawful Firearm Sales, 32 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1225 (1999), Edward G. Renner

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Sound Of Silence: The Supreme Court And The Second Amendment - A Response To Professor Kopel, David S. Yassky

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Until now, the revisionists have based their argument entirely on claims about the intentions of those who framed and ratified the Second Amendment. Revisionists have heretofore conceded that the courts have rejected their approach; indeed, the basic structure of the revisionist argument has been: The Founders intended an individual right to firearm possession; the courts (abetted by the academy) have all but nullified the Amendment by treating it as a mere safeguard for militia; the courts should recognize their error and strike down gun control laws.

With his latest contribution, David Kopel seeks to open a second front in the …

Constitutional Tales Of Violence: Populists, Outgroups, And The Multicultural Landscape Of The Second Amendment, David C. Williams

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Traditionally, populists have claimed the Second Amendment as their particular cultural property; by contrast, outgroups and elites have found the Amendment somewhat culturally alien. Recently, some outgroup members have argued that their groups ought to embrace the Amendment because the right to keep and bear arms can be a valuable way of resisting populist oppression. This Article explores this changing multicultural landscape of the Second Amendment It recognizes that in particular instances and in the short term, outgroups might need to arm themselves against hate violence. It argues, however, that only a consensus culture on the use of violence will …

The Second Amendment In The Nineteenth Century, David B. Kopel

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Right To Keep And Bear Arms In Light Of Thornton: The People And Essential Attributes Of Sovereignty, Kevin J. Worthen

BYU Law Review

Few people think about gun control and term limits in the same way. They generally favor one or the other, but not both or neither. The thesis of this Article, however, is that the two concepts are connected - or at least that the Framers of the United States Constitution would have found a connection between the two - and that theconnection between the two affects the way we should think about the subjects.This Article asserts that the two concepts are related because both gun control and term limits can infringe on the right of the people as ultimate sovereign …

The Brady Handgun Prevention Act And The Community Protection Initiative: Legislative Responses To The Second Amendment?, Orrin G. Hatch

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Is The Second Amendment Finally Becoming Recognized As Part Of The Constitution? Voices From The Courts, Sanford Levinson

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Private Organizations And The Militia Status: They Don't Make Militias Like They Used To, Marguerite A. Driessen

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Securing A Free State: Why The Second Amendment Matters, David Harmer

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Lawyer's Guide To The Second Amendment, Steven H. Gunn

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Plugging The Bullet Holes In U.S. Gun Law: An Ammunition-Based Proposal For Tightening Gun Control, 32 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1 (1998), Brendan J. Healey

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Hidden History Of The Second Amendment, Carl Bogus

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Unitary Second Amendment, David C. Williams

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.