Book Review: A Right to Bear Arms: State and Federal Bills of Rights and Constitutional Guarantees
Abstract
302 Book Reviews ute to this stagnation. The result of our failure is manifested in counterproductive policies and procedures. Michael B. Blankenship Memphis State University A Right to Bear Arms: State and Federal Bills of Rights and Constitutional Guar- antees. By Stephen P. Halbrook. (New York, NY: Greenwood Press, 1989. Pp. 165) The author has filled an important void in the literature concerning gun control in America. As he states, "no scholarly studies have hitherto been published on the attempts by the British to disarm the American inhabitants in the years leading to the American revolu- tion" (p. viii). With the stated purpose of analyzing why the right to keep and bear arms was considered fundamental to the colonists, he sets out to outline their positions point by point. By tracing the chronological development from 1775 to 1791, Halbrook has meticulously detailed various stops along the way concerning not only the right to bear arms but also the concept of a well regulated militia. The author groups the states according to whether they addressed the issue of arms expressly through a "right to bear arms" clause in their state bills of rights or through a provision for a