KQED: BAY WINDOW

Lesson Two: The Right to Bear Arms

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Overview
Media Components
Subjects
Grade Levels
Learning Objectives
Educational Standards
Prep for Teachers
Introductory Activity
Learning Activities
Extension Activities

OVERVIEW
"..the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." Few statements evoke such strong and wide-ranging reactions in people as these words from the Second Amendment. Many believe that the freedom to bear arms is an individual right guaranteed by the constitution. Others feel that the Second Amendment's right "to keep and bear arms" applies only to the right of the state to maintain a militia, and not to the individual's right to bear arms. This lesson explores the issues surrounding the Second Amendment and the issue of gun control. Students will research the issues behind the Second Amendment and engage in a classroom debate on the subject. They will also investigate differing views people hold on gun control and create a talk show which represents varied perspectives on the issue.

MEDIA COMPONENTS
Video: KQED Bay Window Special GunShots: Gun Trafficking and Violence

SUBJECTS
Civics, English

GRADE LEVELS 9-12

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
With this lesson plan, students will:

construct a definition for the concept of freedom.
analyze and explain the issues surrounding the interpretation of the Second Amendment.
examine a person's perspective on the subject of gun control and role-play his/her views.
evaluate the issues surrounding gun control, and determine his/her own views on the subject.

EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS
Within this lesson plan, students should obtain a certain level of understanding within the subjects discussed. For more information about educational standards, go to http://www.mcrel.org .

Understands ideas about civic life, politics, and government

Understands the sources, purposes, and functions of law, and the importance of the rule of law for the protection of individual rights and the common good

Understands issues regarding the proper scope and limits of rights and the relationships among personal, political, and economic rights

Understands the concept of a constitution, the various purposes that constitutions serve, and the conditions that contribute to the establishment and maintenance of constitutional government

Understands the importance of Americans sharing and supporting certain values, beliefs, and principles of American constitutional democracy

Understands how relationships between government and civil society in constitutional democracies differ from those in authoritarian and totalitarian regimes

History
Understands the historical perspective

English
Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of informational texts

Scans a passage to determine whether it contains relevant information

Summarizes and paraphrases complex, implicit hierarchic structures in informational texts, including the relationships among the concepts and details in those structures

Uses discussions with peers as a way of understanding information

Uses text features and elements to support inferences and generalizations about information (e.g., vocabulary, structure, evidence, expository structure, format, use of language, arguments used)

Uses listening and speaking strategies for different purposes

PREP FOR TEACHERS

Preview the GunShots video.
Decide how you will break the class into groups for the various activities.
Consider ways to organize the debate.
Bookmark the following sites:

http://www.gunfree.org/content/resources/frame_resc_intro.html
The Organizing for a Safer America site provides information and materials to educate the public and policymakers about the threat of gun violence.

http://www.saf.org/
The Second Amendment Foundation site contains news releases, articles, and links about the Second Amendment.

http://www.gunfree.org/content/coalition/frame_coal_fedleg.html
The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence is a national group working to reduce gun violence.

http://www.handguncontrol.org/index.asp
Handgun Control, chaired by Sarah Brady, is well-known for working on gun control legislation.

http://hunting.fws.gov/
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Hunting page discusses how hunting is an important tool for wildlife management.

http://www.wagc.com/
The Women Against Gun Control organization supports a woman's right to carry a gun.

http://www.pomc.com/
Parents of Murdered Children provides emotional support to help parents and other survivors deal with their grief.

http://www.nra.org/
The National Rifle Association of America site contains information on gun safety, news and commentary on firearm-related stories, and legislative activity.

http://www.millionmommarch.com/
The Million Mom March is a national grassroots, chapter-based organization dedicated to preventing gun death and injury, and supporting victims and survivors of gun trauma.

INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITY

Building Background One
In this lesson students will visit the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence Web site to collect facts about gun violence. Students should go to:
http://www.gunfree.org/content/resources/frame_resc_intro.html

Once on that page, they will click on The Facts button on the right hand side.

Assign students one of the 16 categories listed on the Web site. (You may have to partner some of the students depending on your class size.)

Ask students to record three or four facts. Reconvene the class and have each group share its facts with the entire class. Create a class fact chart by providing a large sheet of paper on which students may record their facts.

Building Background Two
Both the anti-gun control and pro-gun control camps frequently use the word "freedom." Ask students what freedom means to them. Brainstorm examples of freedom "from things that would harm us," and freedom "to do things that benefit us." Create a class definition of freedom and write it on the board.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Activity One: The Second Amendment Debate

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." -The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

The interpretation of the Second Amendment has been the source of many heated discussions between individual people as well as between gun control advocate groups and gun lobby groups. In this lesson students will research the issues behind the interpretation of the Second Amendment, and conduct a class debate on the subject.

The Second Amendment/Building Background 1. Write the Second Amendment on the board. 2. Working in small groups, ask students to gather information on the Second Amendment debate. Using a variety of sources, students should answer the following questions:

How do gun control advocates tend to interpret the Second Amendment?
How do pro-gun advocates generally interpret the Second Amendment?

The following Web sites contain information about the interpretation of the Second Amendment:

http://www.saf.org/
The Second Amendment Foundation Site

http://www.gunfree.org/content/coalition/frame_coal_fedleg.html
The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence

http://www.handguncontrol.org/index.asp
Handgun Control

The Debate
1. Pass out the list of debate questions. Tell students to gather information on these subjects in order to formulate their responses to the questions. (The sites mentioned above are a good place to begin.)

Debate Questions

Do you agree with the following quote?
"The real purpose of the Second Amendment was to ensure that the 'state armies' -- 'the militia' -- would be maintained for the defense of the state. The very language of the Second Amendment refutes any argument that it was intended to guarantee every citizen an unfettered right to any kind of weapon he or she desires." Warren E. Burger, Former Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (11/26/91, Keene Sentinel)
Do you think that people should be allowed to arm themselves against the possibility of a tyrannical American Government?
Cars kill more people than guns, but we don't ban cars. Should we ban cars?
Gun advocates believe that the Second Amendment prohibits the government from interfering with the individual's right to keep and bear arms. Do you agree?
Do you think people should be allowed to arm themselves for protection from other individuals?
People kill with knives, too. Should we also ban knives?

2. After the students have researched the issues surrounding the Second Amendment debate, break the class into small groups. (Groups should contain no more than five students so that each student will be answering at least one of the debate questions.) Decide if you want the groups to consist of people who hold the same point of view on the issues, or groups with varying opinions who will argue a teacher assigned point-of-view.
3. Allow time for groups to draft their responses to the questions.
4. Ask each group to decide who will debate which questions. (Each group member will be debating at least one question.)
5. Debate each question, giving groups equal time to talk. Allow a set amount of time for questions at the end of each person's response.
6. After all of the groups have answered the questions, discuss how effective the debate was at bringing out the points of the issues for discussion.
7. Ask students if their views changed over the course of this activity.
8. Have students write a one-page paper expressing their views on the interpretation of the Second Amendment.

Activity Two: Talk Show
In this lesson students will create a talk show on the subject of gun violence and gun control. Students will research various people's perspectives on the subject. They will then assume an imaginary role based on these perspectives and act it out for the talk show.

The talk show panel will consist of the six following people:

A recreational hunter
A woman against gun control
A mother or father of a child killed by gun violence
A member of the NRA
An organizer for the Million Mom March
A member of Teens on Target

1. Divide the class into seven groups: one group for each of the six groups mentioned above, and one group to generate questions for the talk show host.

Talk Show Guests Groups
Creating a talk show character: after reading the text on the sites, students will discuss what they think this person's view would be on gun violence and gun control laws. Students will develop this character by writing an imaginary life story outline for this person. Finally, students will choose one of their group members to portray this character in the talk show.

Talk Show Host Group
Students in this group will decide on the format for the talk show, generate a list of possible questions for the talk show panel, and decide how to include the audience in the discussions. The group will choose one of the members to play the role of the talk show host.

Group One
The recreational hunter
http://hunting.fws.gov/
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Group Two
A woman who speaks out against gun control
http://www.wagc.com/
Women Against Gun Control

Group Three
A parent of a murdered child
http://www.pomc.com/

The National Organization of Parents Of Murdered Children, Inc.
Group Four
A member of the NRA
http://www.nra.org/
National Rifle Association Of America

Group Five
An organizer of the Million Mom March
http://www.millionmommarch.com
Million Mom March

Group Six
Member of Teens on Target

For this group students may review the GunShots program and create a character based on the actual teens from the film.

2. Stage the talk show. Students who aren't on the panel will be the talk show audience.

3. After the show, each student will write a letter to a friend describing what occurred at the talk show.

EXTENSION ACTIVITIES

Gun control is an issue that affects everyone's emotions in powerful ways. On one end of the spectrum people believe that the right to bear arms is an individual right guaranteed by the constitution. For people who are concerned about the loss of life associated with guns, many who have lost friends and family to gun violence, it is an extremely personal issue. Some people believe that all weapons including nuclear and heavy military artillery should be legal, and others think that all guns should be banned. Working in groups, ask students to interview members of the community for suggestions on how gun violence might be diminished in our society. Create a proposal for rational gun control based on these discussions with community members. (These are some areas to consider: a registration system for guns and ammunition, background checks on people buying guns or ammunition, sentences for gun crimes, gun education, etc.)

Find a way to share the results with the community (e.g., write an article for the school or local newspaper, hold an information night, create a brochure or Web site).

back to Lesson One