The Second Amendment Works!: A Primer on How to Defend Our Most Important Right

Second Amendment attorney James Ostrowski argues that the right to bear arms has been under sustained attack because its true purposes have been misunderstood and its record distorted by irrational ideologues. Its main and interrelated purposes are to preserve a republican form of government and deter various forms of government tyranny. He argues that the Second Amendment has been a magnificent success in those regards as the United States is one of the world's oldest functioning constitutional republics and has avoided many of the tragedies that have befallen other countries when the population has been disarmed including democide, the mass murder of civilians by the state. A well-armed civilian population also deters coups d'etat and helps protect civil liberties such as free speech and public assembly. Ostrowski notes the frequency of coups and the shooting of unarmed demonstrators in countries which lack the right to bear arms. Ostrowski argues that the Second Amendment has also fulfilled its secondary mission, to allow Americans to protect themselves from criminals when the police are absent, which is almost always. He argues that crime is lowest in areas where the population is well-armed and that any impression to the contrary is the result of ideological propaganda and studies funded by opponents of thy right to bear arms. He urges that the Second Amendment movement adopt new strategies and tactics and better present its case to the public and to groups such as young people who have only heard the gun control side of the argument in school and through the media.