72 of 84 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
SHOOTS HOLES THE SIZE OF TED KENNEDY IN THE HISTORICAL REVISIONIST'S ARGUMENT!, March 30, 2007
This review is from: The Second Amendment (Paperback)
DAVID BARTON begins his informative little booklet, THE SECOND AMENDMENT: Preserving The Inalienable Right Of Individual Self-Protection, by giving the reader a few excerpts from recent articles printed by mainstream American publications and statements made by prominent sources which display the reinterpretation of the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment by the anti-firearm crowd. He then, in just 58 pages of text (not including the Endnotes) absolutely blows their position to smithereens! I mean, it's like shooting a sleeping flea on a dead dog with a howitzer. Barton's booklet hits the bull's-eye!
"There is no individual right to bear arms in the Bill of Rights."
~ USA TODAY; December 28, 1994.
"The sale, manufacture, and possession of handguns ought to be banned ... We do not believe the 2nd Amendment guarantees an individual right to keep them."
~ The Washington Post; November 5, 1999.
"There is no reason for anyone in the country, for anyone except a police officer or a military person, to buy, to own, to have, to use, a handgun."
~ Michael Gartner; former president of NBC News, January 16, 1992.
"Except for lawful police and military purposes, the possession of weapons by individuals is not constitutionally protected."
~ The ACLU; policy statement #47, 1996.
The above are just a few samples of the modern misinterpretations and/or outright deceptions that David Barton lays to waste in this compact, but information-loaded and solidly documented booklet. He immediately reminds the reader that "a common error in constitutional interpretation is the failure to examine a document according to its original meaning" and he then gives several quotations from America's Founding Fathers admonishing their contemporaries, and future generations, to do just that when attempting to understand any constitutional passage.
"On every question of construction, carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed."
~ President Thomas Jefferson; June 12, 1823.
Barton, in his customary fashion, proceeds to examine primary source material from our Founding Era with respect to Early Legal Commentaries; Views Of The Founding Fathers; Early Legislative Acts (including the Founders' definition of the "militia"); and State Constitutions.
"Even if it was practicable, would it be wise to disarm the good before the wicked cease from troubling?"
~ John Jay; Original Chief-Justice, U.S. Supreme Court, April 15, 1818.
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
~ Richard Henry Lee; Signer of The Declaration & Framer of the Second Amendment in the First Congress.
"And what country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms."
~ Thomas Jefferson; U.S. President & signer of The Declaration, June 1776.
"A free people ought...to be armed."
~ George Washington; some dead guy, January 8, 1790.
I suppose there are bigger books out there that address the Second Amendment debate in greater detail, but if all you're looking for is a quick but effective, battle-tested resource to give you the means and the confidence to annihilate your local Lib in a "Gun Rights" debate, DAVID BARTON's booklet, THE SECOND AMENDMENT, provides all the ammunition you'll need.
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25 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Individual Right of Self Protection., July 25, 2008
This review is from: The Second Amendment (Paperback)
In this small booklet David Barton sets out to prove that the Second Amendment right to bear arms is an individual, not a collective right. He proves this rather effectively by examining four items.
1)America's earliest legal commentaries.
2)Writings of the Founding fathers.
3)Early State laws.
4)State Constitutions.
Mr. Barton provides a large number of quotes like a sampling I'll share:
"The first and fundamental rule in the interpretation of all [documents] is to construe them according to the sense of the terms and the intention of the parties."- Justice Joseph Story.
"The great object is that every man be armed."- Patrick Henry.
"It is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."- Richard Henry Lee.
And there is this word of caution from Noah Webster- "Before a standing army can rule,the people must be disarmed-as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword because the whole body of the people are armed."
As the author accurately states in the booklet, the Second Amendment serves to protect what was frequently termed "the first law of nature", the right of self protection.
The only means to "modernize" the Constitution is through the amendment process. Another words, by the people, not by interpretation of the courts.
The Second Amendment basically offers a means of protection from a hostile government or home invader.
This booklet is thoughtfully written and well documented with large Endnotes and Bibliography sections at the back of the booklet.
I highly recommend it.
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