Gun Control

The Second Amendment Protects an Individual Right

by Benedict D. LaRosa January 1, 2001

THERE IS A popular misconception that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution refers to a collective right rather than an individual right. Both history and reason argue against this misinterpretation. The right to self- (and collective) defense does not originate with, nor is it dependent upon, the Second Amendment. Man has ...

The Assault on Guns Continues

by Sheldon Richman October 1, 2000

The anti-self-defense lobby never quits. Two new books show the lengths to which that lobby will go to discredit gun ownership. But if this is the best the lobby can do, advocates of the right of self-defense perhaps have ...

Bright Days Ahead for the Second Amendment?

by Sheldon Richman September 1, 2000

THE SICKENING spectacle of hoodlum gangs molesting women in New York City’s Central Park in broad daylight while the police stood by has elicited volumes of criticism. But two key facts have been left out of the commentary: First, the police have no legal duty to come to any particular person’s ...

The Bankrupt Anti-Gun Movement

by Sheldon Richman August 1, 2000

IF THE CHARACTER of the anti-gun-rights forces was in doubt before the Million Mom March last spring, there is no longer any doubt. The statements of the leading participants vividly revealed them as demagogues who seek only to play on blind emotion in order to push an agenda that would violate a basic individual right: the right to defend ...

Sighting in the Second Amendment

by Jacob G. Hornberger July 1, 2000

WE SHOULD NOT let the hoopla associated with the Million Mom March cause us to lose sight of the real purpose and meaning behind the Second Amendment: the ability to protect ourselves from the tyranny of our own government. Virtually all the arguments in the gun-control debate have revolved around gun violence in American society. The proponents of registration, licensing, ...

Self-Defense Prohibition

by Sheldon Richman July 1, 2000

The sickening spectacle of hoodlum gangs molesting women in New York City's Central Park in broad daylight while the police stood by has elicited volumes of criticism. But two key facts have been left out of the commentary: First, the police have no legal duty to come to any particular person's ...

Gun Control: Where’s the Logic?

by Sheldon Richman June 1, 2000

One of the old Bolsheviks is reputed to have said that the best way to destroy a country is to debase its currency. A central bank is well-suited to that mission. But there's another effective way: degrade people's ability to construct or follow a logical argument. Government schools ...

Wishful Thinking on Guns

by Sheldon Richman May 1, 2000

Rosie O'Donnell, mistress of ceremonies of the Million Mom March, couldn't have been clearer about what she wants for the American people. On ABC's This Week program, Cokie Roberts asked O'Donnell what she thought of concealed-weapons laws. Said Roberts: "There is some evidence that those laws do reduce ...

Seeking Explanations, Not Causes

by Sheldon Richman August 1, 1999

So much has been written about the shootings of students by students at schools that you'd think there would be nothing left to say. But there has been surprisingly little comment about the location of the shootings: government schools. Maybe this shouldn't be surprising. Government schools are nearly sacred to most people. They couldn't possibly be a — or ...

Blockbuster Victory for the Second Amendment

by James Bovard August 1, 1999

Last April, federal judge Sam Cummings issued a decision that chilled the hearts of gun grabbers across the nation. Cummings struck down as unconstitutional a provision in a 1994 law that routinely turned husbands and others targeted by domestic restraining orders into felons. The Clinton administration is appealing the ...

Bad Verdicts

by Sheldon Richman August 1, 1999

People who care about justice should be concerned by the recent spate of jury verdicts holding manufacturers responsible for the harmful consequences of their products. In recent months a jury returned a civil verdict against the firearms industry after someone used a gun to commit a crime. Four ...

Politics by Incantation

by Sheldon Richman June 1, 1999

Americans pride themselves on being modern and sophisticated, but in some important matters, we are no more advanced than primitive animists in southern Sudan. To see this, just witness so much of what passes for public affairs. Leaders and led alike behave as if words shape reality. Legislation is incantation. ...