The mythic meanings of the Second Amendment
Subtitle: taming political violence in a constitutional republic
By: David C. Williams.
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 2003
Place of publication: New Haven
Language: eng
Number of pages: 397
Subjects: United States. -- History.; Firearms -- Law and legislation -- United States -- History.; Political violence -- United States -- History.; Government, Resistance to -- United States -- History.; United States -- Militia.
Description: "The Second Amendment, which concerns the right of the people to keep and bear arms, has been the subject of great debate for decades. Does it protect an individual's right to arms or only the right of the states to maintain their militias? In this book David C. Williams offers a new reading of the Second Amendment: that it guarantees to individuals a right to arms only insofar as they are part of a united and consensual people, so that their uprising can be a unified revolution rather than a civil war."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The background of the framers' thinking; title: The history of the Second Amendment; title: The original legal meaning of the Second Amendment and the military provisions of the constitution; title: Antirevolutionists; title: Libertarians and populists; title: The militia movement's theory of the Second Amendment; title: Outgroups and the Second Amendment; title: The silent crisis; title: Redeeming the people.