June 14, 2013

Showdown: A Dialogue over the Second Amendment


Adam Winkler

Professor of Law, University of California Los Angeles School of Law
Begin: 0:01

Walter Dellinger

Partner, O’Melveny & Myers, LLP; former acting U.S. Solicitor General; Member, ACS Board of Advisors
Begin: 2:54

Rebecca L. Brown

Newton Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Southern California Gould School of Law
Begin: 8:10

Geoffrey R. Stone

Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago Law School
Begin: 14:24

Sanford Levinson

W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law University of Texas School of Law
Begin: 18:32

Breakout Session:Among progressive scholars, there used to be consensus that the Second Amendment protected only a collective right of the states to maintain “a well-regulated Militia.” However, over the past 25 years, some progressive scholars have departed from this consensus, and some argue that this departure is partly responsible for the individual rights interpretation reflected in District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago. With the Supreme Court having weighed in, is the debate over the Second Amendment now over, and what are the varying progressive viewpoints? And with the national conversation focused on gun violence prevention, how does the current understanding of the Second Amendment limit the forms that such prevention can take? What should be response to the wave of unprecedented mass shootings, like the one in Newtown, Connecticut, and to the increased gun violence in major cities?