The Right to Bear Arms

The Second Amendment and Gun Control

In this course, Dr Kevin Yuill (University of Sunderland) explores the history of gun control in the United States from the colonial period to the present day. In the first module, we think about the history of the right to bear arms in English law, and the precise formulation of the Second Amendment: ‘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’. After that, we trace the history of gun control in the United States from the early 17th-century to the present day in four key periods – 1619-1857, 1865-1911, 1911-34 and 1945-present.

The Right to Bear Arms

In this module, we think about the Second Amendment of the US Constitution, focusing in particular on: (i) the history of the right to bear arms in English law, including the 1689 Bill of Rights; and (ii) the precise wording (and punctuation) of the Second Amendment, and the question of what kind of right it actually enshrines – and for whom.