Interested in the 2nd Amendment, This is certainly worth a look!

We haunt used book sales every time one pops up. There is nothing like reading to pass the time and learn. We can not imagine a long fulfilling life with out books.Once it is on paper in ink and distributed to the world, it can’t be change, either right or wrong it is there forever more. It can be revised, updated, corrected or denied, but the original is still there. 

It is something like The [Macon] Telegraph and what we consider their deception and bigotry,it is forever history when it's printed. They can deny it, they can lie about it or they can ignore it. The one thing they can not do is change it.  

This past week we ran across a small leather covered book with the symbol of the eagle with an oblong circle of stars surrounding it on the front cover. A brief check of the price revealed the sum of one dollar, the title was “The Second Amendment Primer” by Adams. The symbol on the leather was worth that to us. When we arrived back home and gave the book a closer examination we found that the Book was “A Citizen’s guidebook to the history, sources, and authorities for the Constitutional Guarantee of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms” by Les Adams of Birmingham, Alabama.

It turns out that Mr. Adams is a lawyer and in the introduction he touches briefly on his beliefs about the 2nd Amendment and why he did the research included in this book which he refers to as a primer. It has to be one of the most exhaustive endeavors ever compiled pertaining to the “right to keep and bear arms”. 

On page seven of the introduction Mr. Adams tells us that:

“The evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of the interpretation that the drafters of the Second Amendment deliberately intended, with the specific words they chose to use and with the specific way they chose to organize those words into one long sentence, to recognize the existence of both a ‘collective’ and an ‘individual’ right of the American citizen to keep and bear arms.”

Mr Adams goes on to tell us that:

“…I am now convinced, unequivocally and unquestionably, that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ratifies and preserves for every citizen the right to keep and bear arms: and moreover, that Congress or any other instrumentality of the federal government is constitutionally barred from infringing that right."

Mr. Adams explains to the reader that:

 “It doesn’t take a lawyer to figure this out. But don’t take my word for it. Simply examine what I will be presenting in this book – a selection of original documents and speeches together with some informed interpretative commentary – and I believe you should and will reach the same conclusion.”

The book informs us as to how the: 

“Founding Fathers had been educated in the classical European tradition” and the manner which it effected their thinking. It is noted that “In this sense, the people’s right to have their own arms was based on the philosophical and political writings of the greatest intellectuals of the past two thousand years.” 

“Although it is correctly understood that the cradle of philosophical thought regarding the right of a free people to bear arms was the classical Mediterranean civilizations of Greece and Rome, a very early and rare expression was unearthed in ancient China:

“Your subject has heard that when the ancients made the five kinds of weapons, it was not for the purpose of killing each other, but to prevent tyranny and to punish evil. When people lived in peace, these weapons were to be prepared against emergencies and to kill the fierce animals. If there were military affairs, then the weapons were used to set up defenses and form battle arrays.”

 The above is with a foot note #3 which tells us that:

“Emperor Han, responding to a petition from the Imperial Chancellor Kung-Sun Hung to take arms from the people, 124 BC, from AMERICAN RIFLEMAN 14 (January 1959).”

As we have said this has to be one of the most extensive and documented researches on the"right to bear arms" in existence.

We are told that “in law, the ‘best evidence’ rule states that if an original document or any other original item of proof is available, it is to be accorded a higher degree of credibility in the courtroom than a copy or other secondhand proof.” 

Mr Adams has extensively cited “original” documents pertaining to the history of this right, “the right to bear arms”. 

After reading the book it is evident that any court ruling against a reasonable right to bear arms by individuals either does not understand the history on which the 2nd Amendment was based or they are legislating from the bench.  

Or as in the case of Scott v. Sanford the courts would just be absolutely wrong.

“The Second Amendment Primer” can be found on line and is an absolute must for anyone with the slightest interest in the 2nd Amendment.

That is our opinion and we would like to hear yours. You can contact us at wetrack@windstream.net. 

Have a nice day.