That Every Man Be Armed: The Evolution of A Constitutional Right

This book informs, challenges, and should change people's understanding of the second amendment and of past and present policy debates. The title is from Patrick Henry; the subtitle describes the book's contents. Halbrook summarizes his purpose in the introduction: "After investigating the philosophical, common law, and historical backgrounds of the right to keep and bear arms, this work analyzes the state and federal court opinions on this topic during the last century, concluding with some reflections on public policy."The questions that Halbrook has settled as well as those he has raised are extremely important. Whether one wants more laws restricting guns, fewer restrictions on gun rights, or legal and historical evidence about what the second amendment really means, the book will provide new facts and insights. The author does not exaggerate when he says that this is "the most comprehensive constitutional history of the right to keep and bear arms published to date." Beyond that, however, the book implies a range of questions and difficult problems about which new books will have to be written.Within the limits of a constitutional history of the second amendment the work is conclusive¾ that is, it demonstrates beyond reasonable doubt that the second amendment was meant to guarantee an individual right, not an exclusively collective right. It further demonstrates that, except for the "black codes" in the South, most American laws and court decisions have upheld the right of individual Americans to keep and bear arms. And Halbrook argues that the precedents that seem to imply a "collective right only" are misleading, mistaken, or irrelevant.