RACE, RIGHTS & FIREARMS

Catalog description

May be used to satsify the writing requirement. This course examines the Second Amendment through critical legal frameworks with a core emphasis on the use of race and racialization to allow or deny individuals and communities from expressing their right to firearm possession. The course begins with a foundational legal understanding of firearm possession and its regulation in the United States starting with an examination of colonial- and Revolutionary War-era laws. It traces the historical context to the ratification of the Second Amendment and, later, the Reconstruction Amendments. The course then follows with interrogation of twentieth century laws, and the racialization of constitutional rights, that prohibited Black, Indigenous, and People of Color individuals and communities from possessing firearms. The course will also review recent Second Amendment jurisprudence from a critical, racial justice perspective. Recommended courses: Constitutional Law 1 (LAW*120, LAW*122 or LAW*124) and Constitutional Law 2 (LAW*290, LAW*294 or LAW*295)