Book Review: That Every Man Be Armed © August 10, 2001, Rod D. Martin That Every Man Be Armed by Stephen P. Halbrook The Definitive Historical and Legal Work on the Second Amendment That Stephen Halbrook is America's premier Second Amendment scholar is amply demonstrated in this tour de force, the definitive book on the history and law behind the citizen's right to keep and bare arms. Published by The Independent Institute, one of America's premier think-tanks, That Every Man Be Armed is comprehensive in scope, and yet easily accessible to the general reader. The book looks at the right to possess arms in historical context, from ancient Athens down to the present. It gives proper attention to the Founders' generation, both before and after the Revolution, as well as detailed examination of the Fourteenth Amendment and its impact on gun rights under state and local law. In the present day, it examines modern court holdings, as well as the rise of gun control in America (and, of particular note, how it largely arose from the desire of white racists to suppress black freedom in the decades following the Civil War). The book is extensively documented, with close to a hundred pages of notes. Halbrook establishes beyond question that the Founders' intent was to create a populace sufficiently armed to directly defend their newly won liberty, whether from foreign invasion or from overreaching government. Not only that, he further shows that "modern" gun control was the norm in 18th Century Europe, that the Founders rejected that approach as fatally undermining liberty, and that the Second Amendment was to them the linchpin of all our other freedoms. This fact is especially enlightening given the anti-gun practices of every 20th Century dictatorship, and a point few remember today. And it is this above all which makes Halbrook's book so valuable. Rather than merely approaching the issue practically -- a worthy thing to do, make no mistake -- Halbrook shows that gun ownership is the premier civil and human right, without which none of the others may safely exist. That Every Man Be Armed is truly a must-read for all who care about human freedom. Author Archive | Contact Rod Martin -- Rod D. Martin is Founder and Chairman of TheVanguard.Org, America's conservative movement online. A writer, speaker and technology entrepreneur, he is a noted futurist and advocate for liberty who serves as Chairman of the Arlington Group's National Security Team, on the Board of Governors of the Council for National Policy, and as President of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies (NFRA), “the Republican Wing of the Republican Party”.