The Second Amendment in Law and History: Historians and Constitutional Scholars on the Right to Bear Arms

The Second Amendment in Law and History: Historians and Constitutional Scholars on the Right to Bear Arms. Ed. by Carl T. Bogus. (New York: New Press, 2002. x, 358 pp. $24.95, ISBN 1-56584-699-0.)

Few issues in American public life have become as contentious as guns. It is almost impossible to discuss guns or gun policy without addressing the equally vexing question of what the Second Amendment means. Does the amendment protect the right of individuals to own guns, or is it a historical artifact of eighteenth-century Americans' fears of standing armies and veneration of a well-regulated militia composed of the sturdy yeomanry? Until quite recently this issue was about as settled as any in American constitutional law. Federal courts uniformly embraced the collective rights view of the amendment and dismissed the individual rights argument. Over the last two decades many legal scholars have embraced the individual rights view...