To Keep and Bear Arms: The Origins of an Anglo-American Right
Joyce Malcolm illuminates the historical facts underlying the current passionate debate about gun-related violence, the Brady Bill, and the NRA, revealing the original meaning and intentions behind the individual right to "bear arms." Few on either side of the Atlantic realize that this extraordinary, controversial, and least understood liberty was a direct legacy of English law. This book explains how the Englishmen's hazardous duty evolved into a right, and how it was transferred to America and transformed into the Second Amendment.
Malcolm's story begins in turbulent seventeenth-century England. She shows why English subjects, led by the governing classes, decided that such a dangerous public freedom as bearing arms was necessary. Entangled in the narrative are shifting notions of the connections between individual ownership of weapons and limited government, private weapons and social status, the citizen army and the professional army, and obedience and resistance, as well as ideas about civilian control of the sword and self-defense. The results add to our knowledge of English life, politics, and constitutional development, and present a historical analysis of a controversial Anglo-American legacy, a legacy that resonates loudly in America today.
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Customer Reviews
Rated 5 starsFunk's Commentary in the Howard Law Journal
From T. Markus Funk, "Is the Second Amendment Really Such a Riddle? Tracing the Historical "Origins of an Anglo-American Right" 39 Howard Law Journal 411 (1995):Few topics of contemporary social, moral, and political debate can provoke as much raw emotion and open hostility as the Second Amendment, particularly in relation to the topic of gun prohibition. This subject routinely causes many well-intentioned people of ...
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Rated 5 starsvery impressive piece of scholarship
Professor Malcolm does a very thorough job of showing how the notion of a right to arms contained in the English Bill of Rights of 1689 (and which appeared in a broader form in the U.S. Bill of Rights) was developed during the English Civil War between King and Parliament, contrary to the claims of Parliament who described the right to arms as being one of their "ancient rights and liberties." Others who have examined...
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Rated 5 starsAn excellent reference to counter authoritarian arguments.
Historical proof that the militia is all the people, and why that's so important to liberty. Proves how and why the Second Amendment is the cornerstone of our Bill Of Rights. Why the right to keep and bear arms is essential to maintaining a free nation. The first act of tyrants and those who commit genocide is always to disarm their victims, to minimize risk to themselves. Dr. Malcolm has written a great book that shows...
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Rated 5 starsA first-class piece of scholarship. Lucid and balanced.
A first class piece of work that should be included in the library of anyone seriously interested in the Second Amendment. The writing is lucid and graceful, the historical research is extensive and meticulous, and the presentation is balanced and scholarly.
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Rated 5 starsWell researched examination of basis of 2nd Amendment
This is an intellectual treatment of a subject frequently dealt with only by emotion and politically correct positions. In a nutshell, sovereignty rests in the people and our Constitution. If we can't trust our citizenry with arms, how can we possibly trust them with the right to vote? We need to think hard before we casually let this fundamental right of a free people be taken away by those who would rule as elitists,...
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