User's Guide to the Second Amendment: History, Meaning, and Effects of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

by Robert Dittmer

This is the abridged version of the book. The complete version of the book is normally available in eBook form on Kindle. The most comprehensive collection of source documents [mostly excerpts due to the volume of such documents] from the founders, constitutional law scholars, and the courts on the second amendment and the individual civilian right to keep and bear arms.-------------------Editorial Library Dittmer, a citizen expert who is not a historian or legal scholar, has collected here historical documents, philosophical treatises, and legal opinions pertaining to the origins and history of the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the right to bear arms. Dittmer's coverage extends from the 17th century to recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions. In his commentary, Dittmer takes an expansive view of the amendment. He ranks the right to bear arms as fundamental and places it in the context of the First, Tenth, and 14th amendments. As the right is an individual and collective privilege, Dittmer argues, it should not be subject to restriction by taxation or regulation. He plainly espouses the libertarian, "pro" view that the amendment protects every individual's right to own guns for all legal uses in and outside the home. VERDICT This title will appeal to gun rights advocates and those interested in immersing themselves in the documentary background of the Second Amendment debate.—Mark Jones, Mercantile Lib., Cincinnati--

825 pages, Paperback

First published December 4, 2013