In Search of the Second Amendment

In Search of the Second Amendment is a documentary film on the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. It was produced and directed by American author and attorney David T. Hardy. He argues the individual rights model of the Second Amendment. Hardy also discusses the Fourteenth Amendment.

Outline of the documentary

 * How Did You Become Interested in the Second Amendment?
 * Legal Scholarship and the Second Amendment


 * England and the Militia
 * Duty to be Armed


 * 1688: A Medieval Duty Becomes an "Antient and Indubitable Right"
 * King Charles I, Oliver Cromwell, and Richard Cromwell
 * King Charles II, King James II, and Gun Control
 * The Glorious Revolution, King William III, Queen Mary II, and the Bill of Rights 1689


 * 1603–1768: Rights of Englishmen, Rights of Americans
 * The Colonies and the Duty to be Armed
 * The Right to Arms and William Blackstone


 * 1768–1775: The Right Is Challenged as Revolution Approaches
 * Britain takes notice and the Redcoats Come to Boston
 * Conflict Breaks Out


 * 1776–1780: The First State Constitutions Give Different Models for a Right to Arms
 * Virginia Declaration of Rights
 * Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights
 * Massachusetts Declaration of Rights


 * 1787–1789: A Proposal for a New Constitution Leads to Calls for a National Right to Arms
 * The Constitutional Convention and the Bill of Rights
 * State Ratification and Declaration of Rights Proposals
 * Virginia and the Demand for a Bill of Rights
 * The Compromise and James Madison
 * Drafting of the Right to Arms
 * The Militia and Standing Armies


 * 1789: In the First Congress, James Madison Fulfils the Great Compromise
 * Madison and the Bill of Rights
 * How the Second Amendment was Drafted
 * The Militia, the States, and the Federal Government
 * The Senate and the Second Amendment
 * Tench Coxe
 * St. George Tucker
 * William Rawle
 * Thomas Cooley
 * Contemporaries and the Second Amendment


 * So What's the Debate? Tracing the Origin of the Belief that the 2nd Amendment Relates to a State's Right to have a National Guard
 * Meaning of "The People"
 * Origin of the Collective Right
 * Kansas Supreme Court
 * The National Guard
 * United States v. Miller (1939)
 * United States v. Emerson (2001)


 * 1868: The 14th Amendment Creates a New Guarantee of the Right to Arms: The Afro–American Experience
 * Slave Codes
 * Dred Scott v. Sandford (1856)
 * Black Codes
 * Views and Response of Congress
 * Civil Rights Act of 1866 and Freedmen's Bureau Act of 1866
 * The Federal Bill of Rights and the States
 * The Fourteenth Amendment
 * In Re Slaughter–House Cases (1873)
 * United States v. Cruikshank (1875)
 * D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation


 * Civil Rights Movement
 * Professor Olson's and Don Kate's Experiences as workers during the Civil Rights Movement
 * Deacons for Defense
 * Robert Williams and the NRA
 * Lumbee Indian Tribe


 * American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Symposium on the Right to Arms
 * Meaning of "The People" Revisited
 * Dred Scott Revisited
 * A New View of Standing Armies and Militias
 * The Fourteenth Amendment Revisited
 * Republican and Democratic Party Platforms on the Right to Arms
 * Freedmen's Bureau Act of 1866 Revisited
 * 18th and 19th Century Interpretation of the Second Amendment


 * Governments, Genocides, and Utility of the Right
 * Armed Resistance and Genocide
 * Protection from Different Sources of Oppression
 * Frequency of Defensive Gun Uses and Crimes Committed
 * Guns and Number of Lives Saved vs. Lives Taken
 * Police and the Legal Duty to Protect the Public
 * Warren v. District of Columbia (1981)
 * View of Fellow Citizens
 * Effectiveness of Defensive Gun Use
 * Right of Self-defense and the Right to Arms
 * Protecting the Second Amendment and Other Rights


 * Final Scene
 * Closing Words
 * Credits
 * Dedications

Persons appearing in the documentary

 * Professors of law


 * Professors of criminology


 * Others