The Constitutional Right To Bear Arms Has Outlived Its Usefulness
Topics: Law, U.S.
Public Release Date: November 14, 2013
“A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.” –2nd Amendment
Recent mass shooting tragedies have renewed the national debate over the 2nd Amendment. Gun ownership and homicide rates are higher in the U.S. than in any other developed nation, but gun violence has decreased over the last two decades even as gun ownership may be increasing. Over 200 years have passed since James Madison introduced the Bill of Rights, the country has changed, and so have its guns. Is the right to bear arms now at odds with the common good, or is it as necessary today as it was in 1789?
ARGUING YES:
Alan Dershowitz: Professor of Law Emeritus at Harvard Law School
Sanford Levinson: Professor of Law and of Government at the University of Texas
ARGUING NO:
David Kopel: Research Director, Independence Institute & Associate Policy Analyst at the Cato Institute
Eugene Volokh: Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law
MODERATOR-IN-CHIEF:
John Donvan: Emmy award-winning journalist