About This Episode:

We trace the history of the right to keep and bear arms from English law in the 1300s through modern U.S. Supreme Court cases. We discuss the Statute of Northampton, the Stuart era, the English Bill of Rights, and how these developments shaped American constitutional thinking and the Second Amendment.

We then cover the colonial period, the Revolution, and post-Civil War developments, including restrictions on enslaved Black people, the Black Codes, the 14th Amendment, and cases such as Dred Scott, Cruikshank, and Miller. We end with major modern laws and decisions, including the NFA, the Gun Control Act, FOPA, Heller, McDonald, Bruen, and Rahimi, as well as current cases involving AR-15 bans and magazine limits.