Reading: The Founders' Second Amendment (Halbrook)

[dhranch]

The book focuses on the period around the Revolutionary War when the Founding Fathers were active, and the events and writings that are relevant to the right to keep and bear arms.

Cheated and read the last chapter so the suspense wouldn't distract me. It turns out OK. Then I went back to the beginning.

So far, my conclusions:
I should probably read a more general history first about the years around the Revolution, since I am not familiar with some things going on at the time that he mentions in passing. I have to ask my wife to educate me as I read along.

Evidently we should say "state powers", not "states rights", since it helps keep it clear that people have rights as individuals, and give certain powers to state and national governments.

Back then they excluded slaves from the militia, although they did get slaves to reload for them, and they so far haven't mentioned women in RKBA context at all.

I'll make a few notes and write a review when I'm finished. It's not a book to be read in one night.

[The Annoyed Man]

It's a great book so far, and I've already learned a lot. I'm about a 1/3 of the way through it at the moment (reading it as the same time as two other books too).

[dhranch]

I finished the book, or at least all of it I intend to read. I got through about 230 of the 340-odd pages, but I have to admit I was flagging for the last 50 pages or so. I tired of the repetition of the author's message, once I clearly understood it.

The intention of the book seems to be to exhaustively document that many or most of the prominent "Revolution / Constitution time period" figures regarded keeping arms on your property and carrying arms on your person as fundamental human rights.

Secondarily, I understand it to intend to document that the uses these rights were thought best put to:
- protecting one's person and property
- acting collectively as part of a disciplined militia, to defend the country
- acting, or presenting a threat to act, against government infringement of all other individual rights
- hunting

I find the distance between the refreshing quotes and actions in the book so different than our current society I get depressed thinking about it. I guess any other comment than that is beyond the scope of a book "review".