David E. Young Interview

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Tue, 13 May 2008 10:04:40 GMT  <== RKBA ==> 

David Codrea and David E. Young at The War on Guns - An interview with the author of The Origin of the Second Amendment ($30) and The Founders' View of the Right to Bear Arms ($30). You can order his books from those Amazon links or via snail mail to the publisher via secondamendmentinfo.com.

DC: So what is the purpose of the Second Amendment? Insurrection? A National Guard? Hunting? Self defense?

DY: The goal of the Second Amendment is to secure the free state the people have authorized against possible future tyranny. This requires that the militia, the able-bodied males, be capable of effective self-embodying defensive action, something which is dependent on them having access to their own arms and knowledge of their use. The only way to assure this against misconstruction and abuse of the government's powers is to protect the right of individuals to have and use arms for any legitimate purposes. The overriding concern is mutual defense against government tyranny, which is entirely dependent upon each individual having the right and ability to defend himself so he can associate with others for defense of the community if ever necessary. Hunting and target shooting, etc., are clearly beneficial aspects of this right, and since they involve having and using arms, are protected. I have emphasized the developmental historical examples relating to these points in The Founders' View.

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DY: I specialize in study of the Constitutional Era and, to a lesser extent, the Colonial and Revolutionary Eras. Remember that my area of expertise is the development and adoption of the Second Amendment ending with Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson's announcement regarding ratification of the Bill of Rights amendments on March 1, 1792. Historical questions about anything after that date are simply requests for my personal opinion based on my best guess.

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