Bill_Rights
Member
In view of the excellent current discussion on various THR threads about the 2nd Amendment (2A), I thought it was worth bringing this documentary up AGAIN, to see if it gets a better "run" and for the benefit of new members who'd otherwise miss it. Here's the thread from two years ago:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=2993149&postcount=1
And here's where you can read about it and order it:
http://www.secondamendmentdocumentary.com/content/view/20/35/
This documentary puts the "nails in the coffin" of most of the anti-gunners interpretations of the 2A that we gun owners don't like. It reports on 30+ years of historical-critical scholarship (a vogue of the last half of the 20th century in academia) that proves beyond doubt that the intent the founders and framers of the Constitution was that the 2A is an individual right, a limitation on government, etc. exactly as pro-RKBA folks have always thought. The preponderance of the historical context is so overwhelming that even liberal law scholars like Lawrence Tribe have revised their textbooks to reflect the (unavoidable) scholarly consensus on what the Founders intended. This is new. Before 30 years ago there was no such academic field, much less consensus. NOTE: Much of what we older THR members think was formed more than 30 years ago. Same for our bitterest opponents. This academic consensus under-cuts our opponents in a fundamental way. They are trying hard to ignore this and hope you do too.
The documentary is in three major parts:
- 15th-century England up through the 1850s or so. Interesting history: exiled royal family members William and Mary (we have a college here in Virginia named after them) came back from the European Continent and restored RKBA to the English people after those had been taken by previous monarchs for tyranical reasons. The English Colonists of this continent got their RKBA ideas for good reason well before arriving on it.
- The emancipation of slaves and the 14th Amendment: Amazingly, much of the relevant case law on 2A matters happened after the emancipation. Many emancipation leaders wanted to liberate slaves (for their own cynical political or economic advantage) but were quite happy to relegate former slaves to second-class-citizen status by denying them the RKBA. Very important stuff to know and get right.
- A round-up of the current-day 2A legal situation. Good review. Devastating arguments. Telling statistics. You couldn't ask for much more.
On the downside, the video is NOT entertainment and could be boring to some in places. Particularly the first two sections didn't hold me at first. I had to watch the whole thing again to get into it.
Also, the documentary does not definitively treat "militias", which I have seen discussed on THR threads. It adds helpful info, but I think the scholars have not gotten around to doing their 30 years of work on that...
And, the damning critique of the first THR thread has not yet been answered outside of the video itself: "How do we get the people that really need to know this material, the antis, to watch the video?"
http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=2993149&postcount=1
And here's where you can read about it and order it:
http://www.secondamendmentdocumentary.com/content/view/20/35/
This documentary puts the "nails in the coffin" of most of the anti-gunners interpretations of the 2A that we gun owners don't like. It reports on 30+ years of historical-critical scholarship (a vogue of the last half of the 20th century in academia) that proves beyond doubt that the intent the founders and framers of the Constitution was that the 2A is an individual right, a limitation on government, etc. exactly as pro-RKBA folks have always thought. The preponderance of the historical context is so overwhelming that even liberal law scholars like Lawrence Tribe have revised their textbooks to reflect the (unavoidable) scholarly consensus on what the Founders intended. This is new. Before 30 years ago there was no such academic field, much less consensus. NOTE: Much of what we older THR members think was formed more than 30 years ago. Same for our bitterest opponents. This academic consensus under-cuts our opponents in a fundamental way. They are trying hard to ignore this and hope you do too.
The documentary is in three major parts:
- 15th-century England up through the 1850s or so. Interesting history: exiled royal family members William and Mary (we have a college here in Virginia named after them) came back from the European Continent and restored RKBA to the English people after those had been taken by previous monarchs for tyranical reasons. The English Colonists of this continent got their RKBA ideas for good reason well before arriving on it.
- The emancipation of slaves and the 14th Amendment: Amazingly, much of the relevant case law on 2A matters happened after the emancipation. Many emancipation leaders wanted to liberate slaves (for their own cynical political or economic advantage) but were quite happy to relegate former slaves to second-class-citizen status by denying them the RKBA. Very important stuff to know and get right.
- A round-up of the current-day 2A legal situation. Good review. Devastating arguments. Telling statistics. You couldn't ask for much more.
On the downside, the video is NOT entertainment and could be boring to some in places. Particularly the first two sections didn't hold me at first. I had to watch the whole thing again to get into it.
Also, the documentary does not definitively treat "militias", which I have seen discussed on THR threads. It adds helpful info, but I think the scholars have not gotten around to doing their 30 years of work on that...
And, the damning critique of the first THR thread has not yet been answered outside of the video itself: "How do we get the people that really need to know this material, the antis, to watch the video?"