The Second Amendment Primer: A Citizen's Guidebook to the History, Sources, and Authorities for the Constitutional Guarantee of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

by Les Adams

So much of the debate about the Second Amendment is in scholarly journals and academic papers written by scholars and judges, or directed towards other scholars, law professors, attorneys, and judges. Trying to wade through the extensive footnotes and references to legal cases and historical precedents known only to the academic elite is more than enough to make anyone feel hopeless.

With The Second Amendment Primer , Les Adams finally provides an accessible discussion of the Second Amendment. It is a “primer” because it is elementary. Chronologically arranged, it traces the development of the right to keep and bear arms from its birth in ancient Greece to its addition in the U.S. Constitution. Supplemental essays discuss the Second Amendment’s interpretation in today’s world from the viewpoints of both firearms enthusiasts as well as those who would limit the amendment’s purview.

Although The Second Amendment Primer is aimed at the average reader, Adams’s facts are detailed and well-documented. Reference margin notes, an extensive bibliography, and a comprehensive subject index showcase the author’s research and show more curious readers how to continue on their path to understanding exactly what the Second Amendment is saying. Using this “citizen’s guide” as a stepping stone, anyone can become a successful scholar of the right to bear arms.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction

368 pages, Hardcover

First published June 26, 2013

Reviews

[Kenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything you need to know about the second amendment: original intent, legal history, etc.

[James Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent overview of the historical context of the Second Amendment, with copious reference to primary documents. Having been written in 1996, it's starting to show a little age, since it has no reference to the 21st Century Supreme Court cases that reference the Second Amendment, most notably Heller v DC and McDonald v Chicago. Nonetheless, it covers the history well enough to be an essential read even without the most recent court decisions.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid argument about the second amendment from a constitutional basis. Author was basically agnostic on the issue until researching it, and came to a position almost to the right of me (!!!).

[James Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second Amendment Primer

Dr, Adams has developed a detailed and scholarly history of our Second Amendment. A much needed work expressed in language all will understand.

[Bruce Cline · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Second Amendment Primer: A Citizen's Guidebook to the History, Sources, and Authorities for the Constitutional Guarantee of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, by Les Adams (1996, audiobook ~3.75 hrs). It’s one thing for the founders to believe people had a right to individual (as opposed to collective) self defense, whether as a matter of ancient philosophy, English Common Law, or even common sense, but that does not mean that the framers meant to enshrine such a right in the Constitution, which as we all know was a restriction on federal not state power. For at least 100 years the Bill of Rights did not apply to actions by the states. (That means for 100 years states could and did restrict fire arms to one extent or another with no one thinking their rights were being violated.) In that many of the colonies had in their respective constitutions one or another version of a right to bear arms (though as often as not, using the same or similar language with respect to militias), possibly the framers wanted to leave it up to the states. I find it especially odd that the author, a lawyer and gun user, himself did not believe in an unfettered right to bear arms until he was asked to write for the NRA. What a coincidence. The author provides way too much extraneous information that does not bear directly on what the framers wrote or thought, even suggesting that they did not specifically note a private right to bear arms because it was so obvious. And yet here we are. It’s worth noting that a high percentage of the historical examples he gives to support an individual right explicitly mention militias or other collective armed forces needed to protect communities/nations. Additionally, in many instances weapons were regulated as to type, and who among the populace could keep them—certainly not everybody all the time. (Once supposedly pertinent right to arms in England has the language “[t]hat the Subjects which are Protestants may have Arms for their Defence suitable to their Conditions, and as allowed by Law.” That’s certainly not an unrestricted right.) One commentator on the English Bill of Rights that the author references in support of Americans’ rights wrote, “Article VII is properly regarded not as a gun-rights law, but as a gun-control measure. It gives no right to all Protestants to possess guns; it gives that right to upper-class Protestants. In effect, it armed a small minority—perhaps no more than three percent—of the population. This, I submit, was the original meaning of Article VII.”

Am quite disappointed in this author’s analysis and conclusions, which he believes is definitive.

[Jph12 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Concise explanation of the how the Second Amendment is best understood as protecting a personal right to keep and bear arms, just as the rest of the first nine Amendments in the Bill of Rights protect personal rights as well. In doing so, it explains why there is not a conflict between the prefatory clause of the Second Amendment with the operative clause of the Second Amendment because the Militia in the prefatory clause and the People in the operative clause refer to the same people.

[Bob Legge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this on Audible. Excellent resource and easily understood. Slightly dry; both content and the narrator.

[Clayton Chase · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource for talking with a liberal on the subject, or just gaining a better appreciation of why the founders considered the palladium of all rights that it's citizens bear and know how to properly use arms.

[John Baker · Rating 2 out of 5]

2⭐️ propaganda piece. Does not provide a balanced view and simply restates NRA positions based on selective and out of context quotes from founding fathers of the US and others! I read it to try to understand the gun rights argument! This pamphlet did not help with that goal!

[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for anyone interested in the 2nd Amendment.

[Theo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an easy to read book and will help with a understanding of our rights to bear arms.