LibGuides: Gun Control v. Gun Rights: Introduction

The Dilemma

In the United States the dilemma is how to reconcile upholding the 2nd amendment of our constitution while at the same time ensuring the safety of our citizens.

The Second Amendment

"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."

~ Passed by Congress September 25, 1789. Ratified December 15, 1791. The first 10 amendments form the Bill of Rights

Amendment II Right to Bear Arms

How should local, state and federal lawmakers respond?

Featured Books & eBooks

Try these books to get started. Must access on campus or login with your COM account for off campus access.

Want more on finding books? Try Books & eBooks.

Armed in America : A History of Gun Rights From Colonial Militias to Concealed Carry This accessible legal history describes how the Second Amendment has been interpreted throughout most of American history and shows that today's gun-rights advocates have drastically departed from the long-held interpretation of the constitutional right to bear arms. This illuminating study traces the transformation of the right to arms from its inception in English and colonial American law to today's impassioned gun-control debate. As historian and legal scholar Patrick J. Charles shows, what the right to arms means to Americans, as well as what it legally protects, has changed drastically since its first appearance in the 1689 Declaration of Rights. Armed in America explores how and why the right to arms transformed at different points in history. The right was initially meant to serve as a parliamentary right of resistance, yet by the ratification of the Second Amendment in 1791 the right had become indispensably intertwined with civic republicanism. As the United States progressed into the 19th century the right continued to change--this time away from civic republicanism and towards the individual-right understanding that is known today, albeit with the important caveat that the right could be severely restricted by the government's police power. Throughout the 20th century this understanding of the right remained the predominant view. But working behind the scenes was the beginnings of the gun-rights movement--a movement that was started in the early 20th century through the collective efforts of sporting magazine editors and was eventually commandeered by the National Rifle Association to become the gun-rights movement known today. Readers looking to sort through the shrill rhetoric surrounding the current gun debate and arrive at an informed understanding of the legal and historical development of the right to arms will find this book to be an invaluable resource.
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.
Disarmed : The Missing Movement for Gun Control in America More than any other advanced industrial democracy, the United States is besieged by firearms violence. Each year, some 30,000 people die by gunfire. Over the course of its history, the nation has witnessed the murders of beloved public figures; massacres in workplaces and schools; and epidemics of gun violence that terrorize neighborhoods and claim tens of thousands of lives. Commanding majorities of Americans voice support for stricter controls on firearms. Yet they have never mounted a true national movement for gun control. Why? Disarmed unravels this paradox. Based on historical archives, interviews, and original survey evidence, Kristin Goss suggests that the gun control campaign has been stymied by a combination of factors, including the inability to secure patronage resources, the difficulties in articulating a message that would resonate with supporters, and strategic decisions made in the name of effective policy. The power of the so-called gun lobby has played an important role in hobbling the gun-control campaign, but that is not the entire story. Instead of pursuing a strategy of incremental change on the local and state levels, gun control advocates have sought national policies. Some 40% of state gun control laws predate the 1970s, and the gun lobby has systematically weakened even these longstanding restrictions. A compelling and engagingly written look at one of America's most divisive political issues, Disarmed illuminates the organizational, historical, and policy-related factors that constrain mass mobilization, and brings into sharp relief the agonizing dilemmas faced by advocates of gun control and other issues in the United States.
The Gun Control Debate : A Documentary History Both the history of the gun control debate, as well as the focus the debate will take in the future, are explored in this unique collection of over 200 documents spanning 200 years. High school and undergraduate students can use this resource--one of the largest collections of key documents concerning the issue of gun control--to explore the seminal arguments for and against further restrictions on guns. Each document is preceded by an explanatory head note to aid the student researcher in understanding and appraising the primary source. An advisory board of distinguished specialists and teachers on both sides of the debate assisted Bijlefeld with the selection of documents. All aspects of the debate are examined, including the history and development of the Second Amendment and its modern interpretations, as well as the political climate surrounding the debate. Users can investigate explanations of federal and state gun control measures, how they are passed into law, and gun control's role in today's political debates. Examining the future of the debate, Bijlefeld provides documents that explore the developing legal theories, the increased attention by criminologists, and the role played by the public health and law enforcement communities. The volume serves as a comprehensive source of key documents as well as a guide to additional sources covering specific topics.
The Gun Debate: An Encyclopedia of Gun Rights and Gun Control in the United States With public perception of gun violence at an all-time high, this new edition is a must-have resource for all libraries. Providing 300-plus entries of in-depth coverage, this encyclopedia is exceptional for its balanced and unbiased approach to this controversial issue.
The Gun Debate : What Everyone Needs to Know Even before the recent Newtown, CT massacre, gun violence and gun control has preoccupied public officals and legislators at all levels of government as well as powerful special interest groups for years.Guns in America: What Everyone Needs to Know tours the issues that Americans debate when they talk about guns. The volume includes information on gun control pertaining to U.S. history, jurisprudence, cultural beliefs, political agendas, epidemiologcal data, criminology, law and regulation, andpolicy effectivness. Throughout, economist Philip J. Cook and political scientist Kristin Goss illustrate for readers which questions and issues are contentious and on which there is something approaching consensus. They answer basic questions like: Where do people acquire guns? Is gun violence rising or falling? Who is at risk for being shot? How much does gun violence cost? And tackle tougher ones such as: Do video games and the media contribute to gun violence? Why is the gun control movement relativelyweak? Is it better to enforce the laws we have or enact new ones? The answers to these questions will help the general reader to make sense of the volley of ideologically driven statistics and slogans that characterize our national conversation on firearms. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in getting a clear view of the highly polarizing topic of guncontrol.
Gunfight : The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America Gunfight promises to be a seminal work in its examination of America's four-centuries-long political battle over gun control and the right to bear arms. In the tradition of Gideon's Trumpet, Adam Winkler uses the landmark 2008 case District of Columbia v. Heller, which invalidated a law banning handguns in the nation's capital, as a springboard for a groundbreaking historical narrative. From the Founding Fathers and the Second Amendment to the origins of the Klan, ironically as a gun control organization, the debate over guns has always generated controversy. Whether examining the Black Panthers' role in provoking the modern gun rights movement or Ronald Reagan's efforts to curtail gun ownership, Winkler brilliantly weaves together the dramatic stories of gun rights advocates and gun control lobbyists, providing often unexpected insights into the venomous debate that now cleaves our nation.
Guns Across America : Reconciling Gun Rules and Rights In vast swathes of America, the sacredness of the Second Amendment has become a political third rail, never to be questioned. Gun rights supporters wear tri-cornered hats, wave the stars and stripes, and ask what would have happened if the revolutionaries had been unarmed when the British werecoming. They have had great success in conflating unfettered gun ownership with the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, and all things American, even in an era of repeated mass shootings. Yet the all-too-familiar narrative of America's gun past, echoed in the Supreme Court's Heller gun rightsdecision, is not only mythologized, but historically wrong. As Robert J. Spitzer demonstrates in Guns across America, gun ownership is as old as the nation, but so is gun regulation. Drawing on a vast new dataset of early gun laws reflecting every imaginable type of regulation, Spitzer reveals that firearms were actually more strictly regulated in thecountry's first three centuries than in recent years. The first "gun grabbers" were not 1960's Chablis-drinking liberals, but seventeenth century rum-guzzling pioneers, and their legacy continued through strict gun regulations in the 1920s and beyond. Spitzer examines interpretations of the SecondAmendment, the assault weapons controversy, modern "stand your ground" laws, and the so-called "right of rebellion" to show that they play out in America's contemporary political landscape in ways that bear little resemblance to our imagined past. And as gun rights proponents seek to roll back gunlaws and press as many guns into as many hands as possible, warning that gun rights are endangered, they sidestep the central question: are stricter gun laws incompatible with robust gun rights? Spitzer answers this question by examining New York State's tough gun laws, where his political analysisis complemented by his own quest for a concealed carry handgun permit and construction of a legal AR-15 assault weapon. Not only can gun rights and rules coexist, but they have throughout American history. Guns across America reveals the long-hidden truth: that gun regulations are in fact as American as apple pie
Hands off My Gun Conservative talk show host, blogger and TV commentator Dana Loesch gives her views on the history and intent of the Second Amendment and discusses what she believes gun confiscation would mean to Americans' basic rights as citizens. How many people in America today are truly well-versed in the history of the Second Amendment, and why it was included in the Bill of Rights? In HANDS OFF MY GUN, Dana Loesch explains why the Founding Fathers included the right to bear arms in the Bill of Rights, and argues that "gun control" regulations throughout history have been used to keep minority populations under control. She also contends that current arguments in favor of gun control are primarily based on emotions and fear. This narrative is a must-read for every Second Amendment supporter. Dana Loesch is a determined and fierce advocate for those rights and shouts out: hands off my gun!
How America Got its Guns : A History of the Gun Violence Crisis In the United States more than thirty thousand deaths each year can be attributed to firearms. This book on the history of guns in America examines the Second Amendment and the laws and court cases it has spawned. The author’s thorough and objective account shows the complexities of the issue, which are so often reduced to bumper-sticker slogans, and suggests ways in which gun violence in this country can be reduced. Briggs profiles not only protagonists in the national gun debate but also ordinary people, showing the ways guns have become part of the lives of many Americans.
The Politics of Gun Control In the wake of the 2011 shooting of congresswoman Gabby Giffords, the latest edition of The Politics of Gun Control is extremely timely.As a member of both the National Rifle Association and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, Robert J. Spitzer is a well respected authority on the issue of gun control, and his balanced treatment of the issue continues to compel interest and interviews by such luminaries as Terry Gross and Keith Olbermann.The Fifth Edition includes covers recent public shootings including that of Gabrielle Giffords, recent court rulings, new data on gun ownership, gun deaths and public opinion on gun control and looks at NRA politics in recent elections.
Reducing Gun Violence in America : Informing Policy With Evidence and Analysis The staggering toll of gun violence--which claims 31,000 U.S. lives each year--is an urgent public health issue that demands an effective evidence-based policy response. The Johns Hopkins University convened more than 20 of the world's leading experts on gun violence and policy to summarize relevant research and recommend policies that are both constitutional and have broad public support. Collected for the first time in one volume, this reliable, empirical research and legal analysis will help lawmakers, opinion leaders, and concerned citizens identify policy changes to address mass shootings, along with the less-publicized gun violence that takes an average of 80 lives every day. Selected recommendations include: * Background checks: Establish a universal background check system for all persons purchasing a firearm from any seller. * High-risk individuals: Expand the set of conditions that disqualify an individual from legally purchasing a firearm. * Mental health: Focus federal restrictions on gun purchases by persons with serious mental illness on the dangerousness of the individual. * Trafficking and dealer licensing: Appoint a permanent director to ATF and provide the agency with the authority to develop a range of sanctions for gun dealers who violate gun sales or other laws. * Personalized guns: Provide financial incentives to states to mandate childproof or personalized guns. * Assault weapons and high-capacity magazines: Ban the future sale of assault weapons and the future sale and possession of large-capacity ammunition magazines. * Research funds: Provide adequate federal funds to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, and National Institute of Justice for research into the causes and solutions of gun violence. The book includes an analysis of the constitutionality of many recommended policies and data from a national public opinion poll that reflects support among the majority of Americans--including gun owners--for stronger gun policies.
Reference Shelf: Guns in America A national debate continues to rage in regard to 2nd amendment rights in contemporary society. This collection will deal with concerns about domestic violence committed by guns, the ramifications of a widely armed citizenry, the government's failure to pass comprehensive gun legislation, as well as police brutality, strong gun lobbies, open-carry laws, home-grown terrorism, fatal shootings of black men by police in Louisiana and Minnesota, and the Orlando massacre. From domestic terrorism, to the Black Lives Matter movement articles in this title will reflect differences in policy views on the subject in the longstanding debate around gun rights and gun control.
The Second Amendment on Trial 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.
That Every Man Be Armed That Every Man Be Armed, the first scholarly book on the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, has played a significant role in constitutional debate and litigation since it was first published in 1984. Halbrook traces the right to bear arms from ancient Greece and Rome to the English republicans, then to the American Revolution and Constitution, through the Reconstruction period extending the right to African Americans, and onward to today's controversies. With reviews of recent literature and court decisions, this new edition ensures that Halbrook's study remains the most comprehensive general work on the right to keep and bear arms.

Featured Articles

Try these articles to get started. Must access on campus or login with your COM account for off campus access.

Want more on finding articles? Try Articles & Media.

Featured Media

Try these films to get started. Must access on campus or login with your COM account for off campus access.

Want more on finding media? Try Articles & Media.

The Constitutional Right to Bear Arms Has Outlived Its Usefulness: A Debate (01:48:06) Ratified in 1791, the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states: “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.” Is this right to bear arms broad and absolute? Or is it subject to limits and regulation? Is it primarily about self-defense or anachronistic ideas of collective defense through militias? Has the constitutional right to bear arms outlived its usefulness?
Guns Reduce Crime: A Debate The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in 2008 that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects an individual's right to bear arms added fuel to the ongoing national debate about guns. Thousands of people die from gun shots every year, but some argue that the prevalence of guns in the United States actually serves to deter crime. Does gun control keep guns away from criminals, or, conversely, does it allow criminals to have a monopoly on gun ownership? Do guns reduce crime?
Under the Gun: Whose Right? Whose Responsibility? (40:23) As the death toll mounts in high schools and neighborhoods, America urgently needs to balance Second Amendment rights with gun-related youth violence. In part one of this program, ABC News anchor Ted Koppel and correspondent David Turecamo consider the badlands of Philadelphia, where hundreds of teens and young adults are killed or maimed each year by easily purchased but illegally owned handguns. In part two, Koppel and Turecamo consider the predicament of gun manufacturers, who claim that any legislative restrictions will hamper how they market their products to law-abiding citizens. Can lawmakers, manufacturers, and partisan lobbies stop fighting each other long enough to attack the roots of gun violence together?