Annual research lecture looks at ‘mythical’ Second Amendment

By Lauren Bryant

“A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.”

That single sentence has generated volumes of debate for decades. Does the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protect an individual’s right to own private arms, or does it give protection to state governments to maintain state militias?

In the 2003 Distinguished Faculty Research Lecture, David C. Williams will argue something completely different—that the Second Amendment has mythical meanings. For the framers of the Constitution, Williams says, the amendment was based on a myth about a united American people rising up against an alien and corrupt government. More recently, the framers’ myth has been replaced by myths about American disunity and the need for “good” Americans to control “bad” Americans through the force of arms.

These myths cannot adequately tame political violence in America, says Williams, the John S. Hastings Professor of law at the IU School of Law—Bloomington and author of the new book The Mythic Meanings of the Second Amendment. The framers’ myth rests on a unity we do not possess, he argues, and modern myths encourage violence by emphasizing our disunity. Instead, the amendment should serve not as a rule of law, Williams suggests, but as a cultural ideal that can promote greater unity among us on the use of political violence.

Williams delivers the 2003 Distinguished Faculty Research Lecture at 3:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 23, in the Moot Court Room of the IUB School of Law. The annual lecture, sponsored by the Office of the Bloomington Chancellor and the Office of Research and the University Graduate School, was created to honor the research accomplishments of IUB faculty. It has been presented since 1980; past lecturers include Ciprian Foias, Bruce Cole and Ellen Ketterson. After the lecture, a video of the presentation may be downloaded from the Office of Research at:

http://www.indiana.edu/~rugs/orindex.html

For more on Williams’ new book, see:

http://www.yale.edu/yup/books/095627.htm