An important part of the body of literature concerning the Second Amendment, the “1982 Senate Report” reflects Congressional Intent, and coincides with the “recently burgeoned” analysis (Fraternal Order of Police v. U.S. 1998 WL 543822 (DC. Cir.)) of the Second Amendment. (see Hardy, Armed Citizens, Citizen Armies note 4 and accompanying text.).

The “1982 Senate Report” consists of the report itself (I-IX, 1-23), and eight articles under the heading “Other Views” (24-175). Three of these “Other Views” articles were explicitly invited by the Chairman of the Subcommittee as supportive of the Committee’s findings (Senate Report, VIII). The remaining five characterize the views which had gained currency in the previous two decades absent original research.


United States Senate, Report of the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution, 97th Cong., 2d Sess., The Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Committee Print I-IX, 1-23 (1982). [HTML]

Steinberg, David J., Does the Second Amendment mean what it says?, 24-26. [HTML]

Beard, Michael K. & Fields, Samuel S., National Coalition to Ban Handguns, statement on the Second Amendment, 27-44. [HTML]

Hardy, David T., Historical Bases of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, 45-67. [HTML]

Halbrook, Stephen P., The Fourteenth Amendment and the Right to Bear Arms: The Intent of the Framers, 68-82. [HTML]

Featherstone, James J. & Gardiner, Richard E. & Dowlut, Robert, The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution Guarantees an Individual Right To Keep and Bear Arms, 83-109. [HTML]

Levin, John, The Right To Bear Arms: The Development of the American Experience, 110-129 (reprinted from 48 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 148-167 (1971)). [HTML]

Weatherup, Roy G., An Historical Analysis of The Second Amendment, 130-170 (reprinted from 2 Hastings Const. L.Q. 961-1001 (1975)). [HTML]

Committee on Federal Legislation (N.Y. City Bar Assoc.), Gun Control Legislation, 171-175. [HTML]