THAT EVERY MAN BE ARMED: The Evolution of a Constitutional Right
by Stephen Halbrook, Ph.D., J.D.
This is a comprehensive guide to the history and meaning of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Halbrook traces the Second Amendment's origins from ancient Greece and Rome (where "the right to bear arms" meant the ability to possess a mace or spear), to eighteenth century France and England (including the "Freemen" movement), and finally through the American Revolution and the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. He then discusses the Second Amendment's significance throughout American history, including contemporary debates over gun control. Halbrook extensively researches the public writings and documents, as well as private journals and letters, of the framers of the Constitution to determine what their intent was when drafting the Second Amendment. His conclusion is unsettling for gun control advocates: all available evidence clearly indicates that the authors of the Bill of Rights believed the right to individual gun ownership was as fundamental and essential a right as free speech and freedom of religion.
Halbrook is a distinguished legal scholar who has successfully argued two gun control cases before the Supreme Court, including the case that overturned provisions of the "Brady Bill" that required local police to enforce provisions of federal gun laws. His research into the Second Amendment is exhaustive, impeccable, and cannot be dismissed. In the words of Senator Orrin Hatch, "THAT EVERY MAN BE ARMED is the definitive book on the historical and legal development of the Second Amendment and our right to bear arms."
