In Search of the Second Amendment is a documentary film

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 on the Second Amendment

Second Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms. It was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights.In 2008 and 2010, the Supreme Court issued two Second...

 of the United States Constitution

United States Constitution

The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...

. It was produced and directed by American author and attorney David T. Hardy

David T. Hardy

David T. Hardy , is a senior attorney with the National Rifle Association and has practiced law since 1975. A graduate of the University of Arizona Law School, he previously served as an attorney with the U.S. Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C., for ten years and now lives in Tucson,...

. He argues the individual rights model of the Second Amendment. Hardy also discusses the Fourteenth Amendment

Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...

.

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 and Indubitable Right"

• King Charles I
  Charles I of England
  Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
  
  , Oliver Cromwell
  Oliver Cromwell
  Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
  
  , and Richard Cromwell
  Richard Cromwell
  At the same time, the officers of the New Model Army became increasingly wary about the government's commitment to the military cause. The fact that Richard Cromwell lacked military credentials grated with men who had fought on the battlefields of the English Civil War to secure their nation's...
  
  
• King Charles II
  Charles II of England
  Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
  
  , King James II
  James II of England
  James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
  
  , and Gun Control
  Gun politics
  Gun politics addresses safety issues and ideologies related to firearms through criminal and noncriminal use. Gun politics deals with rules, regulations, and restrictions on the use, ownership, and distribution of firearms.-National sovereignty:...
  
  
• The Glorious Revolution
  Glorious Revolution
  The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...
  
  , King William III
  William III of England
  William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
  
  , Queen Mary II
  Mary II of England
  Mary II was joint Sovereign of England, Scotland, and Ireland with her husband and first cousin, William III and II, from 1689 until her death. William and Mary, both Protestants, became king and queen regnant, respectively, following the Glorious Revolution, which resulted in the deposition of...
  
  , and the Bill of Rights 1689
  Bill of Rights 1689
  The Bill of Rights or the Bill of Rights 1688 is an Act of the Parliament of England.The Bill of Rights was passed by Parliament on 16 December 1689. It was a re-statement in statutory form of the Declaration of Right presented by the Convention Parliament to William and Mary in March 1689 ,...
  
  

1603–1768: Rights of Englishmen, Rights of Americans

• The Colonies
  Thirteen Colonies
  The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...
  
   and the Duty to be Armed
• The Right to Arms
  Firearm
  A firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...
  
   and William Blackstone
  William Blackstone
  Sir William Blackstone KC SL was an English jurist, judge and Tory politician of the eighteenth century. He is most noted for writing the Commentaries on the Laws of England. Born into a middle class family in London, Blackstone was educated at Charterhouse School before matriculating at Pembroke...
  
  

1768–1775: The Right Is Challenged as Revolution Approaches

• Britain
  Kingdom of Great Britain
  The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
  
   takes notice and the Redcoats
  Red coat (British army)
  Red coat or Redcoat is a historical term used to refer to soldiers of the British Army because of the red uniforms formerly worn by the majority of regiments. From the late 17th century to the early 20th century, the uniform of most British soldiers, , included a madder red coat or coatee...
  
   Come to Boston
  American Revolution
  The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
  
  
• Conflict
  Battles of Lexington and Concord
  The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. They were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy , and Cambridge, near Boston...
  
   Breaks Out

1776–1780: The First State Constitutions Give Different Models for a Right to Arms

• Virginia
  Virginia
  The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
  
   Declaration of Rights
• Pennsylvania
  Pennsylvania
  The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
  
   Declaration of Rights
• Massachusetts
  Massachusetts
  The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
  
   Declaration of Rights

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
  United States Bill of Rights
  The Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. These limitations serve to protect the natural rights of liberty and property. They guarantee a number of personal freedoms, limit the government's power in judicial and other proceedings, and...
  
  
• State Ratification and Declaration of Rights Proposals
• Virginia and the Demand for a Bill of Rights
• The Compromise and James Madison
  James Madison
  James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
  
  
• Drafting of the Right to Arms
• The Militia
  Militia (United States)
  The role of militia, also known as military service and duty, in the United States is complex and has transformed over time.Spitzer, Robert J.: The Politics of Gun Control, Page 36. Chatham House Publishers, Inc., 1995. " The term militia can be used to describe any number of groups within the...
  
   and Standing Armies
  Standing army
  A standing army is a professional permanent army. It is composed of full-time career soldiers and is not disbanded during times of peace. It differs from army reserves, who are activated only during wars or natural disasters...
  
  

1789: In the First Congress, James Madison Fulfils the Great Compromise

• Madison and the Bill of Rights
• How the Second Amendment was Drafted
• The Militia, the States, and the Federal Government
• The Senate
  United States Senate
  The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
  
   and the Second Amendment
• Tench Coxe
  Tench Coxe
  Tench Coxe was an American political economist and a delegate for Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress in 1788-1789. He wrote under the pseudonym "A Pennsylvanian".-Biography:...
  
  
• St. George Tucker
  St. George Tucker
  St. George Tucker was a lawyer, professor of law at the College of William and Mary, and judge of Virginia's highest court. In 1813, upon the nomination of President James Madison, he became the United States district judge for Virginia.-Early life:Born in St. George, Bermuda, near Port Royal...
  
  
• William Rawle
  William Rawle
  William Rawle was an American lawyer in Philadelphia, who in 1791 was appointed as United States district attorney in Pennsylvania...
  
  
• Thomas Cooley
  Thomas M. Cooley
  Thomas McIntyre Cooley, LL.D., was the 25th Justice and a Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, between 1864 and 1885. Born in Attica, New York, he was father to Charles Cooley, a distinguished American sociologist...
  
  
• Contemporaries and the Second Amendment

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

• Meaning of "The People"
• Origin of the Collective Right
• Kansas Supreme Court
  Kansas Supreme Court
  The Kansas Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority in the state of Kansas. Composed of seven justices, led by Chief Justice Lawton Nuss, the Court supervises the legal profession, administers over the judicial branch, and serves as the state court of last resort in the appeals...
  
  
• The National Guard
  United States National Guard
  The National Guard of the United States is a reserve military force composed of state National Guard militia members or units under federally recognized active or inactive armed force service for the United States. Militia members are citizen soldiers, meaning they work part time for the National...
  
  
• United States v. Miller
  United States v. Miller
  United States v. Miller, 307 U.S. 174 , was the first Supreme Court of the United States decision to involve the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. Miller is a controversial decision in the ongoing American gun politics debate, as both sides claim that it supports their...
  
  (1939)
• United States v. Emerson
  United States v. Emerson
  United States v. Emerson, 270 F.3d 203 , is a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit holding that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees individuals the right to bear arms...
  
  (2001)

1868: The 14th Amendment Creates a New Guarantee of the Right to Arms: The Afro–American Experience

• Slave Codes
  Slave codes
  Slave codes were laws each US state, which defined the status of slaves and the rights of masters. These codes gave slave-owners absolute power over the African slaves.-Definition of "slaves":Virginia, 1650:“Act XI...
  
  
• Dred Scott v. Sandford
  Dred Scott v. Sandford
  Dred Scott v. Sandford, , also known as the Dred Scott Decision, was a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that people of African descent brought into the United States and held as slaves were not protected by the Constitution and could never be U.S...
  
  (1856)
• Black Codes
  Black Codes in the USA
  The Black Codes were laws put in place in the United States after the Civil War with the effect of limiting the basic human rights and civil liberties of blacks. Even though the U.S...
  
  
• Views and Response of Congress
  United States Congress
  The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
  
  
• Civil Rights Act of 1866
  Civil Rights Act of 1866
  The Civil Rights Act of 1866, , enacted April 9, 1866, is a federal law in the United States that was mainly intended to protect the civil rights of African-Americans, in the wake of the American Civil War...
  
   and Freedmen's Bureau Act of 1866
• The Federal Bill of Rights and the States
• The Fourteenth Amendment
• In Re Slaughter–House Cases (1873)
• United States v. Cruikshank
  United States v. Cruikshank
  United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542 was an important United States Supreme Court decision in United States constitutional law, one of the earliest to deal with the application of the Bill of Rights to state governments following the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment.-Background:On Easter...
  
  (1875)
• D. W. Griffith
  D. W. Griffith
  David Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance .Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera...
  
  's The Birth of a Nation
  The Birth of a Nation
  The Birth of a Nation is a 1915 American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and based on the novel and play The Clansman, both by Thomas Dixon, Jr. Griffith also co-wrote the screenplay , and co-produced the film . It was released on February 8, 1915...
  
  

Civil Rights Movement

• Professor Olson's and Don Kate's Experiences as Civil Rights Workers
• Deacons for Defense
  Deacons for Defense and Justice
  The Deacons for Defense and Justice is an armed self defense African American civil rights organization in the U.S. Southern states during the 1960s. Historically, the organization practiced self-defense methods in the face of racist oppression that was carried out by Jim Crow Laws; local and state...
  
  
• Robert Williams
  Robert F. Williams
  Robert Franklin Williams was a civil rights leader, the president of the Monroe, North Carolina NAACP chapter in the 1950s and early 1960s, and author. At a time when racial tension was high and official abuses were rampant, Williams was a key figure in promoting both integration and armed black...
  
   and the NRA
  National Rifle Association
  The National Rifle Association of America is an American non-profit 501 civil rights organization which advocates for the protection of the Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights and the promotion of firearm ownership rights as well as marksmanship, firearm safety, and the protection...
  
  
• Lumbee Indian Tribe
  Lumbee
  The Lumbee belong to a state recognized Native American tribe in North Carolina. The Lumbee are concentrated in Robeson County and named for the primary waterway traversing the county...
  
  

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
  Republican Party (United States)
  The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
  
   and Democratic
  Democratic Party (United States)
  The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
  
   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
  Police
  The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
  
   and the Legal Duty to Protect the Public
• Warren v. District of Columbia
  Warren v. District of Columbia
  Warren v. District of Columbia is a U.S. Court of Appeals case in which three rape victims sued the District of Columbia because of negligence on the part of the police. Two of three female roommates were upstairs when they heard men break in and attack the third...
  
  (1981)
• View of Fellow Citizens
• Effectiveness of Defensive Gun Use
• Right of Self–defense
  Self-defense
  Self-defense, self-defence or private defense is a countermeasure that involves defending oneself, one's property or the well-being of another from physical harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in times of danger is available in many...
  
   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 Randy Barnett Randy E. Barnett is a lawyer, a law professor at Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches constitutional law and contracts, and a legal theorist in the United States...	Boston University School of Law
Robert Cottrol	George Washington University Law School
Brannon Denning	Cumberland School of Law
Nicholas Johnson Nicholas Johnson Nicholas Johnson is best known for his controversial term as a dissenting Federal Communications Commission commissioner, 1966-1973, and his book, How to Talk Back to Your Television Set...	Fordham University School of Law
Sanford Levinson Sanford Levinson Sanford Victor Levinson is a prominent American liberal law professor and acknowledged expert on Constitutional law and legal scholar and professor of government at the University of Texas Law School...	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 Glenn Reynolds Glenn Harlan Reynolds is Beauchamp Brogan Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Tennessee, and is best known for his weblog, Instapundit, one of the most widely read American political weblogs...	University of Tennessee College of Law
Eugene Volokh Eugene Volokh Eugene Volokh is an American legal commentator and the Gary T. Schwartz Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law...	UCLA School of Law

Professors of criminology

Professor	School
Gary Kleck Gary Kleck Gary Kleck is a criminologist at Florida State University.-Criminology:He has done numerous studies of the effects of guns on death and injury in crimes, on suicides, and gun accidents, the impact of gun control laws on rates of violence, the frequency and effectiveness of defensive gun use by...	Florida State University

Others

Name	Background
Carol Bambery	Attorney, NRA Director
Clayton Cramer Clayton Cramer Clayton E. Cramer is a historian, author, and software engineer. He played an important early role in documenting errors in the book Arming America by Michael A. Bellesiles, a book that was later proven to be based on fraudulent research. His work was cited by the United States District Court for...	Historian, author
Sandy Froman	Attorney, NRA President
Stephen Halbrook	Attorney, Second Amendment author
David T. Hardy David T. Hardy David T. Hardy , is a senior attorney with the National Rifle Association and has practiced law since 1975. A graduate of the University of Arizona Law School, he previously served as an attorney with the U.S. Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C., for ten years and now lives in Tucson,...	Attorney, Second Amendment author
Roy Innis Roy Innis Roy Emile Alfredo Innis is an African American civil rights activist. He has been National Chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality since his election to the position in 1968....	National Chairman of CORE Congress of Racial Equality The Congress of Racial Equality or CORE was a U.S. civil rights organization that originally played a pivotal role for African-Americans in the Civil Rights Movement... , NRA Director
Don Kates Don Kates Don Kates is a retired American professor of constitutional and criminal law, and a criminologist and research fellow with The Independent Institute in Oakland, California...	Civil rights attorney, author
Dave Kopel Dave Kopel Dave Kopel is an American author, attorney, political science researcher and contributing editor to several publications. He is currently Research Director of the Independence Institute in Golden, Colorado, Associate Policy Analyst at the Cato Institute, contributor to the National Review magazine...	Attorney, Research Director of Independence Institute Independence Institute The Independence Institute is a conservative think tank based in Golden, Colorado. Founded in 1985, the Institute " expertise education, the environment, transportation, personal freedom, government reform, local government, and criminal justice."- Current Staff :As of June 2010, the Independence...
Larry Pratt Larry Pratt Lawrence D. Pratt is the executive director of Gun Owners of America, a U.S.-based firearms lobbying group, and a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates.- Early life :...	Author, Executive Director of GOA Gun Owners of America Gun Owners of America is a gun rights organization in the United States with over 300,000 members. They make efforts to differentiate themselves from the larger National Rifle Association , and have publicly criticized the NRA on multiple occasions for what the GOA considers to be the selling out...

External links

• Official website
• 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)