TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS: The Origins of an Anglo-American Right

by Joyce Lee Malcolm

Few people realize that the American Constitution's right to keep and bear arms actually had its origins in England, and that it is an outgrowth of the seventeenth century English citizen's duty to keep arms for personal defense. Malcolm's in-depth research shows that many English citizens were not pleased to be able to possess firearms in the seventeenth century; instead, they found the duty to do so onerous. She then shows how this duty evolved into a right, why this right was eagerly adopted in the Thirteen Colonies, and how British citizens gradually lost their rights to possess firearms during the twentieth century. In another parallel with America, Malcolm discusses how increasing restrictions on firearms ownership in Britain has been followed by increases in violent crime instead of reductions. She also demolishes favored arguments of gun-control advocates---such as the one claiming that only members of the National Guard are entitled to possess weapons under the Second Amendment---as being entirely without historical support. This is a trenchant, hard-hitting work of historical scholarship that proves the Second Amendment means exactly what it says---the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.