In Search of the Second Amendment

2006 American film
  • December 19, 2006 (2006-12-19)
Running time
111 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBudgetUS$45,000

In Search of the Second Amendment is a documentary film on the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. It was produced and directed by American author and attorney David T. Hardy. He argues the individual rights model of the Second Amendment. Hardy also discusses the Fourteenth Amendment.

Outline of the documentary

How Did You Become Interested in the Second Amendment?
  • Legal Scholarship and the Second Amendment
England and the Militia
  • Duty to be Armed
1688
A Medieval Duty Becomes an "Antient[1] and Indubitable Right"
1603–1768
Rights of Englishmen, Rights of Americans
  • The Colonies and the Duty to be Armed
  • The Right to Arms and William Blackstone
1768–1775
The Right Is Challenged as Revolution Approaches
1776–1780
The First State Constitutions Give Different Models for a Right to Arms
1787–1789
A Proposal for a New Constitution Leads to Calls for a National Right to Arms
  • The Constitutional Convention and the Bill of Rights
  • State Ratification and Declaration of Rights Proposals
  • Virginia and the Demand for a Bill of Rights
  • The Compromise and James Madison
  • Drafting of the Right to Arms
  • The Militia and Standing Armies
1789
In the First Congress, James Madison Fulfils the Great Compromise
So What's the Debate? Tracing the Origin of the Belief that the 2nd Amendment Relates to a State's Right to have a National Guard
1868
The 14th Amendment Creates a New Guarantee of the Right to Arms: The Afro–American Experience
Civil Rights Movement
American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Symposium on the Right to Arms
  • Meaning of "The People" Revisited
  • Dred Scott Revisited
  • A New View of Standing Armies and Militias
  • The Fourteenth Amendment Revisited
  • Republican and Democratic Party Platforms on the Right to Arms
  • Freedmen's Bureau Act of 1866 Revisited
  • 18th and 19th Century Interpretation of the Second Amendment
Governments, Genocides, and Utility of the Right
  • Armed Resistance and Genocide
  • Protection from Different Sources of Oppression
  • Frequency of Defensive Gun Uses and Crimes Committed
  • Guns and Number of Lives Saved vs. Lives Taken
  • Police and the Legal Duty to Protect the Public
  • Warren v. District of Columbia (1981)
  • View of Fellow Citizens
  • Effectiveness of Defensive Gun Use
  • Right of Self-defense and the Right to Arms
  • Protecting the Second Amendment and Other Rights
Final Scene
  • Closing Words
  • Credits
  • Dedications

Persons appearing in the documentary

Professors of law
Professor School
Akhil Amar Yale Law School
Randy Barnett Boston University School of Law
Robert Cottrol George Washington University Law School
Brannon Denning Cumberland School of Law
Nicholas Johnson Fordham University School of Law
Sanford Levinson University of Texas School of Law
Nelson Lund George Mason University School of Law
Joyce Lee Malcolm George Mason University School of Law
Joseph Olson Hamline University School of Law
Daniel Polsby George Mason University School of Law
Glenn Harlan Reynolds University of Tennessee College of Law
Eugene Volokh UCLA School of Law
Professors of criminology
Professor School
Gary Kleck Florida State University
Others
Name Background
Carol Bambery Attorney, NRA Director
Clayton Cramer Historian, author
Sandy Froman Attorney, NRA President
Stephen Halbrook Attorney, Second Amendment author
David T. Hardy Attorney, Second Amendment author
Roy Innis National Chairman of CORE, NRA Director
Don Kates Civil rights attorney, author
Dave Kopel Attorney, Research Director of Independence Institute
Larry Pratt Author, Executive Director of GOA

Notes

  1. ^ This is the spelling as used by William Blackstone.

External links

  • Official website Archived 2006-12-10 at the Wayback Machine
  • Videos about documentary at YouTube
    • Trailer (2:10)
    • Various previews
  • JPFO interview about documentary
    • MP3 format (26:41, 12.2 MiB)
  • Liberty Watch Radio interview about documentary (MP3 format)
    • Part 1 (47:01, 8.07 MiB)
    • Part 2 (47:37, 8.17 MiB)
  • Gun Talk interview about documentary (MP3 format, 44:40, 10.3 MiB)