GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2014
Status
Accepted
Abstract
When Jim Fleming asked me to participate in this Symposium, and more specifically to be part of the Second Amendment panel, I must confess that I was a bit puzzled. There are many parts of our political and constitutional system that are arguably dysfunctional, meaning that our late-eighteenth century Constitution prevents the achievement of policy results that are desirable in our early-twenty-first century present. I do not see, however, the Second Amendment as one of those constitutional features. As a result, this Essay challenges two assumptions: first, that the Second Amendment historically has provided much of a barrier to a desirable policy result, radical gun control or perhaps more accurately gun prohibition; and second, that such a result is indeed desirable.
GW Paper Series
GWU Law School Public Law Research Paper No. 2019-30; GWU Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2019-30
SSRN Link
https://ssrn.com/abstract=3403105
Recommended Citation
Cottrol, Robert J., Second Amendment: Not Constitutional Dysfunction, But Necessary Safeguard (2014). Robert J. Cottrol, Second Amendment: Not Constitutional Dysfunction but Necessary Safeguard, 94 B.U. L. Rev. 835 (2014).; GWU Law School Public Law Research Paper No. 2019-30; GWU Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2019-30. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3403105