Understanding the Second Amendment

Few issues ignite people's passions as reliably as those involving the application and scope of the Second Amendment. In this course, Ameer Benno, a civil rights and constitutional law attorney, explores the history of the Second Amendment, examines Second Amendment jurisprudence, and identifies the constitutional issues animating current debates about federal, state, and local gun laws.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand the history of the Second Amendment, including the policies and political theory that led to its inclusion in the Bill of Rights
2. Become familiar with landmark Second Amendment jurisprudence, including the Supreme Court's decisions in District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. City of Chicago
3. Identify the issues involved in the Second Amendment debate, and recognize those issues that remain unsettled
4. Recognize the landscape of Second Amendment challenges to federal, state, and local gun laws in the aftermath of Heller and McDonald