The Mythic Meanings of the Second Amendment: Taming Political Violence in a Constitutional Republic

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 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. Williams argues that the Second Amendment has been based on myths about America—the Framers’ belief in American unity and modern interpreters’ belief in American distrust and disunity. Neither of these myths, however, will adequately curb political violence. Williams suggests that the amendment should serve not as a rule of law but as a cultural ideal that promotes our unity on the use of political violence and celebrates our diversity in other areas of life. Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Part I. The Framers’ Constitution 1. The Background of the Framers’ Thinking 2. The History of the Second Amendment 3. The Original Legal Meaning of the Second Amendment and the Military Provisions of the Constitution Part II. The Mythic Second Amendment Today 4. Antirevolutionists 5. Libertarians and Populists 6. The Militia Movement’s Theory of the Second Amendment 7. Outgroups and the Second Amendment Part III. Reconstructing a Constitutional Organization of Violence 8. The Silent Crisis 9. Redeeming the People Notes Index