The Militia and the Right to Arms: Or, How the Second Amendment Fell Silent

by William G. Merkel and H. Richard Uviller

Book Overview

"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." --Amendment II, United States Constitution The Second Amendment is regularly invoked by opponents of gun control, but H. Richard Uviller and William G. Merkel argue the amendment has nothing to contribute to debates over private access to firearms. In The Militia and the Right to Arms, or, How the Second...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0822330172
• ISBN13: 9780822330172
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Duke University Press
• Length: 338 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Armed with the truth for a change

This book seeks to balance two predominant schools of thought regarding the Second Amendment: The individualist school and the collective rights school. Uviller and Merkel's thesis is that the right to bear arms was an individual right, but only within a collective context of service in a state sanctioned, regulated and disciplined militia. The book has it right. Uviller and Merkel are well researched. This book is not a polemical such as Halbrook's "That Every Man Be Armed" - it is historical scholarship. A must read for anyone who seeks a scholarly and objective, as well as balanced approach to the understanding of the Second Amendment.

Very enlightening

This is a must read for anyone who really wants to understand the truth about the second amendment.The authors present an impressive amount of historical research to show that the second amendment protects an individual right to bear arms only in connection with an organized citizen militia. Some have claimed that the second amendment protects an unconditional right to bear arms. However, an objective examination of history, reveals that this notion is undoubtedly false. The term "bear arms" referred to military service at the time of the writing of the second amendment. When deciding on the language of the second amendment, the first congress debated whether conscientous objectors should be exempt from bearing arms. Obviously, they weren't talking hunting or using guns to defend one's home against criminals.