The Right to Bear Arms

A Constitutional Right of the People or a Privilege of the Ruling Class?

By: Stephen P. Halbrook

Narrated by: Richard Cefalos

This is the first scholarly study of the history of the right to bear and carry arms outside of the home, a right held dear by Americans before, during, and after the Founding period; it rebuts attempts by anti-gun advocates to rewrite history and “cancel” the Founding generation’s lived experiences bearing firearms.

The U.S. Supreme Court has recognized the individual right to keep and bear arms, but courts in states that have extreme gun control restrictions apply tests that balance the right away. This book demonstrates that the right peaceably to carry firearms is a fundamental right recognized by the text of the Second Amendment and is part of our American history and tradition.

Halbrook’s scholarly work is an exhaustive historical treatment of the fundamental, individual right to carry firearms outside of the home. Halbrook traces this right from its origins in England through American colonial times, the American Revolution, the Constitution’s ratification debates, and then through the antebellum and post-bellum periods, including the history surrounding the enactment of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

This book is another important contribution by Halbrook to the scholarship concerning the text, history, and tradition of the Second Amendment’s right to bear and carry arms.

©2021 Stephen P. Halbrook (P)2024 Post Hill Press

Really bad narration and foreword

Mr. Halbrook definitely did a lot of research and has a great deal of interesting information. However, in case of this audio book the narration by Mr. Cefalos is really boring and puts you to sleep (with some help of Mr. Halbrook). And the author of its foreword, Professor Lerner, wrote a political essay instead of a historical or legal one. She writes excitedly that during the pandemic Americans bought a record amount of firearms. Did that maker our citizens more safe? Did that make our citizens less safe? Why did they buy so many firearms? How civil unrest was related to the pandemic and how the pandemic was related to the government's inability to prevent and manage it effectively? Yes, we get that she voted for that administration, but she shouldn't have suspended her critical thinking.