In Search of the Second Amendment

While the American right to arms has for a century been controversial in courts, scholarship, and the popular press, its history has never before been explored by a documentary. ‘In Search of the Second Amendment‘ is the first documentary on the history of the American right to arms. Twelve law professors, including four of the biggest names in Constitutional Law, lay out the history of the individual right.

In Search of the Second Amendment is based on the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. It was produced and directed by American author and attorney David T. Hardy. He argues the individual rights model of the Second Amendment. Hardy also discusses the Fourteenth Amendment.

Outline of the documentary (see documentary below):

How Did You Become Interested in the Second Amendment?

• Legal Scholarship and the Second Amendment

England and the Militia

• Duty to be Armed

1688

A Medieval Duty Becomes an “Antient^[1] and Indubitable Right”

• King Charles I, Oliver Cromwell, and Richard Cromwell
• King Charles II, King James II, and Gun Control
• The Glorious Revolution, King William III, Queen Mary II, and the Bill of Rights 1689

1603–1768

Rights of Englishmen, Rights of Americans

• The Colonies and the Duty to be Armed
• The Right to Arms and William Blackstone

1768–1775

The Right Is Challenged as Revolution Approaches

• Britain takes notice and the Redcoats Come to Boston
• Conflict Breaks Out

1776–1780

The First State Constitutions Give Different Models for a Right to Arms

• Virginia Declaration of Rights
• Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights
• Massachusetts Declaration of Rights

1787–1789

A Proposal for a New Constitution Leads to Calls for a National Right to Arms

• The Constitutional Convention and the Bill of Rights
• State Ratification and Declaration of Rights Proposals
• Virginia and the Demand for a Bill of Rights
• The Compromise and James Madison
• Drafting of the Right to Arms
• The Militia and Standing Armies

1789

In the First Congress, James Madison Fulfills the Great Compromise

• Madison and the Bill of Rights
• How the Second Amendment was Drafted
• The Militia, the States, and the Federal Government
• The Senate and the Second Amendment
• Tench Coxe
• St. George Tucker
• William Rawle
• Thomas Cooley
• Contemporaries and the Second Amendment

So What’s the Debate? Tracing the Origin of the Belief that the 2nd Amendment Relates to a State’s Right to have a National Guard

• Meaning of “The People”
• Origin of the Collective Right
• Kansas Supreme Court
• The National Guard
• United States v. Miller (1939)
• United States v. Emerson (2001)

1868

The 14th Amendment Creates a New Guarantee of the Right to Arms: The Afro–American Experience

• Slave Codes
• Dred Scott v. Sandford (1856)
• Black Codes
• Views and Response of Congress
• Civil Rights Act of 1866 and Freedmen’s Bureau Act of 1866
• The Federal Bill of Rights and the States
• The Fourteenth Amendment
• In Re Slaughter–House Cases (1873)
• United States v. Cruikshank (1875)
• D. W. Griffith‘s The Birth of a Nation

Civil Rights Movement

• Professor Olson’s and Don Kate’s Experiences as workers during the Civil Rights Movement
• Deacons for Defense
• Robert Williams and the NRA
• Lumbee Indian Tribe

American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Symposium on the Right to Arms

• Meaning of “The People” Revisited
• Dred Scott Revisited
• A New View of Standing Armies and Militias
• The Fourteenth Amendment Revisited
• Republican and Democratic Party Platforms on the Right to Arms
• Freedmen’s Bureau Act of 1866 Revisited
• 18th and 19th Century Interpretation of the Second Amendment

Governments, Genocides, and Utility of the Right

• Armed Resistance and Genocide
• Protection from Different Sources of Oppression
• Frequency of Defensive Gun Uses and Crimes Committed
• Guns and Number of Lives Saved vs. Lives Taken
• Police and the Legal Duty to Protect the Public
• Warren v. District of Columbia (1981)
• View of Fellow Citizens
• Effectiveness of Defensive Gun Use
• Right of Self–defense and the Right to Arms
• Protecting the Second Amendment and Other Rights

Resources:

Persons appearing in the documentary

Professors of law

Professors of criminology

Others

External links:

• Official website
• Videos about documentary at YouTube
  • Trailer (2:10)
  • Various previews
• JPFO interview about documentary
  • MP3 format (26:41, 12.2 MiB)
• Liberty Watch Radio interview about documentary (MP3 format)
  • Part 1 (47:01, 8.07 MiB)
  • Part 2 (47:37, 8.17 MiB)
• Gun Talk interview about documentary (MP3 format, 44:40, 10.3 MiB)

Related:

In Search of the Second Amendment

Second Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Constitution of the United States (1787) – Heritage Foundation

Bill of Rights Transcript Text

The James Madison Research Library and Information Center

Robert F. Williams, Negroes With Guns, Ch. 3-5, 1962