From the Radio Free Michigan archives ftp://141.209.3.26/pub/patriot If you have any other files you'd like to contribute, e-mail them to bj496@Cleveland.Freenet.Edu. ------------------------------------------------ THE 2nd AMENDMENT: A RIGHT LEFT OUT by Doctor Linda Karen Miller A study of U.S. high school history and civics textbooks commissioned by the NRA Firearm Civil Rights Legal Defense Fund has found discussion of the Second Amendment largely ignored and at best incomplete. This is according to Dr. Linda Karen Miller, the study's conductor. These results offer a challenge for Second Amendment supporters. In the majority of the books reviewed, errors ranged from omission of relevant facts to the presentation of incorrect data in discussing the meaning, history and cultural evolution of the Second Amendment. Thirty-two texts (24 history and 8 government) were examined, and the findings show that the Second Amendment was described only 24 times. Of the original 10 amendments that make up the Bill of Rights, only the third, prohibiting the quartering of soldiers, and the seventh, the right to a jury trial, are mentioned less. By comparison, the 17th Amendment allowing the direct election of senators was described 61 times, and the 23rd Amendment providing the District of Columbia three electorial votes was described 23 times. Dr. Miller, an education consultant and teacher in Virginia, has been awarded the George Washington Medal from the Valley Forge Freedom Foun- dation, been named the Law Educator of the Year by the American Lawyers Auxiliary and serves as an educational consultant for Newsweek. She looked at a number of key topics to judge the treatment of the Second Amendment. In particular, she looked at how the texts described its origins, its foundation in English heritage and its prominence in the Bill of Rights. Further, Dr. Miller looked for inclusion of descrip- tions of legislative efforts to restrict gun-owners rights through the years. Dr. Miller found the texts showed clear deficiencies in almost every category. The discussion of the Second Amendment was either per- functory, or in most cases, completely omitted. Ideas as vital as the English heritage origin of the rule of law, state constitutional guarantees of the right to bear arms, Black Codes and the 14th Amend- ment were widely ignored. In brief, Dr. Miller's findings included: *English Heritage: Of the 32 authors surveyed, only six described our English heritage. Only one explained that the right to keep and bear arms evolved from this heritage. *Colonial Governments: Seven authors covered the colonial governments None described the colonial origins of the Second Amendment. *State Governments: Fifteen discussed this topic. None even mention- ed that 43 states include a right to keep and bear arms in their state bill of rights. *Bill of Rights: All of the authors described the Bill of Rights, but only 17 described the right to keep and bear arms. None discussed its adoption. *1866 Civil Rights Act: Nine authors covered this topic, but none ex- plained that it meant an expansion of the right to keep and bear arms *14th Amendment: Twenty-two of the authors covered this amendment. None of them explained that "equal protection of the laws" and rights of citizens also included the right to keep and bear arms. *Black Codes: Thirty-one authors discussed the Black Codes, but only 11 explained that the codes denied Blacks the right to keep and bear arms. The study looked at the presentation of key U.S. Supreme Court decis- ions on the Second Amendment and found the authors widely ignored these cases: U.S. v. Miller, U.S. v. Cruikshank and Presser v. Illinois. De- scribed only once, Miller was misinterpreted; Cruikshank was described in three instances. Historical events are presented as if they sprang forth from a political or intellectual vaccum, the study found. In short, the Second Amendment is presented as an idea that simply exists, without background or historical context. Dr. Miller described the situation as follows: "The history of the Second Amendment is not only unmoored from its English heritage and forgotten in major historical events in the U.S. history and U.S. government textbooks, but that history has been set adrift in the textbooks, floundering in the political ideologies of the authors, un- substantiated by historical fact or current jurisprudence." There is little continuity of ideas, nor are sufficient precedents provided; the discussion of controversial topics is muted or completely avoided. The inadequacies of the texts require that gun owners take extra mea- sures to provide Second Amendment books and other information to school and community libraries to fill the void. For further information on the developement of the Second Amendment and its historical evolution, write to the NRA-ILA Research and Information Division, 1600 Rhode Island Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036. AMERICAN RIFLEMAN, February 1993, p. 33. ------------------------------------------------ (This file was found elsewhere on the Internet and uploaded to the Radio Free Michigan archives by the archive maintainer. All files are ZIP archives for fast download. E-mail bj496@Cleveland.Freenet.Edu)