Season 2, Episode 22 (Show 74): After Uvalde – What?

June 1, 2022

The horrific massacre in Uvalde, Texas has directed the nation’s eyes to the Constitution and its role in gun rights. The Court, and Congress, are looked to warily. We review the constitutional landscape for our listeners, and prepare them for a forthcoming Supreme Court decision.

The nightmare of gun violence haunts America today. What can be done? So many Americans are aghast at assertions of gun rights in the face of absolute evil. It seems incomprehensible.  Our job it to render this domain legible, navigable, and at least potentially solvable. We begin in this episode with a review of the Constitutional landscape of rights in general, gun rights in particular, and we put an imminent Supreme Court decision on carrying arms in perspective. We also preview our next episode, which will feature an important guest who will do much the same clarification of the legislative world we will soon enter.

Show Notes:

A history of the Second Amendment in two paintings - The Washington Post

A December, 2012 column by Ezra Klein, following a conversation with Professor Amar in the aftermath of the Newtown/Sandy Hook tragedy, explains the respective backgrounds of the Second and Fourteenth Amendments in the context of gun rights.

Read and/or Download

The Bill of Rights as a Constitution - Yale Law Journal

The Yale Law Journal published this article on “The Bill of Rights as a Constitution” in 1990, expounding Professor Amar’s approach to viewing the Bill of Rights as interrelated and holistic rather than a series of disjointed, unrelated amendments.  100 Yale L. J., 1131.

Read and/or Download