Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T08:13:58.797Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 3 - A Clear and Present Danger

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 January 2023

Dennis Baron
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Get access

Summary

The clash between the First and Second amendments in the US Constitution – the First guaranteeing free speech and the Second guaranteeing the right to bear arms – leads into a discussion of legal interpretations of the Second Amendment from 1791, when the states ratified the Bill of Rights, to the present. Using a corpus linguistic analysis of the Second Amendment, with a focus on "the right to keep and bear arms," and an examination of the US Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), we see that, just like any other text, whether a literary work, a sacred book, or an everyday communication like a memo or shopping list, legal interpretation is always contingent, always subjective, and and always subject to reinterpretation.

Type
Chapter
Information
You Can't Always Say What You Want
The Paradox of Free Speech
, pp. 38 - 82
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • A Clear and Present Danger
  • Dennis Baron, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
  • Book: You Can't Always Say What You Want
  • Online publication: 12 January 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009198882.004
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • A Clear and Present Danger
  • Dennis Baron, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
  • Book: You Can't Always Say What You Want
  • Online publication: 12 January 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009198882.004
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • A Clear and Present Danger
  • Dennis Baron, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
  • Book: You Can't Always Say What You Want
  • Online publication: 12 January 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009198882.004
Available formats
×