The national debate about gun violence and gun policy reform rests on an understanding of the Second Amendment shaped by the NRA and other pro-gun extremists. Their definition asserts that the right to bear arms is – and always has been – a bedrock Constitutional right that guarantees freedom.

But what if the NRA’s interpretation of the Second Amendment is historically wrong? How has the NRA’s version fed a gun violence epidemic that threatens and terrifies everyone, with disproportionate impacts on communities of color and other vulnerable communities? And how is the NRA’s Second Amendment increasingly infringing on other fundamental rights like free speech and safety?

DETAILS

WHAT: “The Hidden History of the Second Amendment and What Came After” online teach-in
WHO: Constitutional law professors Carl Bogus and Mary Anne Franks, with moderator Gloria Pan, Senior Vice President of Gun Control, MomsRising
WHEN: Thursday, June 8, 2023, 8:30 pm ET / 5:30 pm PT
WHERE: Online, from wherever you are

This teach-in about the Second Amendment (2A) will start with a look at history reaching back to the founding of the country. We’ll examine how the NRA began crafting and selling its own version of 2A steeped in white supremacy, bringing us to our current era of runaway gun violence, a rising number of hate crimes, and insurrectionism. Other topics to be covered include:

Two of our country’s foremost constitutional thinkers about gun rights will serve as faculty at our teach-in:

Carl Bogus is Distinguished Research Professor of Law at Roger Williams University School of Law in Rhode Island. In his new book Madison's Militia: The Hidden History of the Second Amendment, Professor Bogus shows that – contrary to conventional wisdom – the fitting symbol of the Second Amendment is not the musket in the hands of the minuteman on Lexington Green but rather the musket wielded by a slave patrol member in the South.

Mary Anne Franks is an American legal scholar, author, activist, and media commentator. She is a professor of law and the Michael R. Klein Distinguished Scholar Chair at the University of Miami School of Law. In her book, The Cult of the Constitution: Our Deadly Devotion to Guns and Free Speech, Professor Franks examines the thin line between constitutional fidelity and constitutional fundamentalism and how the NRA has fanned the flames of the latter.

Please forward this email to everyone you know who is looking to better understand the roots of gun violence, who is searching for new ideas and a way forward to finally achieve a safer future with true freedom for everyone.

- Gloria, Joy, Jessica, Kristin and the whole MomsRising.org & MamásConPoder Team

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