Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire

A great documentary explaining what has happened and now is currently happening, they really brought the facts out on this one, I suggest everyone watch it and to do your research. Instead of watching that really doesn't matter, watch something that might educate you on reality. In 2012, an estimated 14,827 persons were murdered in the United States. This was a 1.1 percent increase from the 2011 estimate, but a 9.9 percent decrease from the 2008 figure, and a 10.3 percent drop from the number in 2003. If you look at the FBI website you see that only 8,855 people Murdered by firearms in this country, and 95% of those are all firearms that are illegally obtained and only around 409 of firearms deaths are caused by justifiable causes by self defense or law enforcement.

For the person who opposes gun ownership on ideological or moral grounds, this film will be an hour of nails on a chalkboard. I felt it was fairly restrained in its assertions and presentation (Ted Nugent's appearance notwithstanding), far more so than Bowling for Columbine.

That the political importance of individual, private gun ownership was not even in question at the time of the writing of the Bill of Rights is easily demonstrable, and any unclarity about the meaning and intent of the Second Amendment can be swept away in short order by reading the writings of the very people who authored both it and the state laws that preceded it.

The Second Amendment provides a balance of power between the people and their government. A portion of our contemporary society may not recognize the practical value in that, but the Founders regarded the disarming of a population as a flatly hostile and despotic act:

"I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them." – George Mason, co-author of the Second Amendment, Speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 14, 1778

Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire addresses the debate primarily from a more modern vantage point, and for that reason I do not think it will prove to be very persuasive to contemporary anti-gun people.

This was an awesome documentary. Starting from today's politically charged climate -showing the diversity of the, "Gun Culture," then going into the history of this right. It delves deep into the thoughts and words of those who wrote the second amendment. Then, it runs through the historical calender concerning the assaults against this right by media and politics. I never even knew about, "The Battle of Athens," after World War 2. Even if you could care less about the right to keep and bear arms, this movie is quite captivating. Ice-T's deep and forceful voice places the script into the viewer's mind with a large ball peen hammer -making SURE you will remember what is said. And, it's important that you do just that. There is no opinion in the narrator. No biased narrative. Just plain, historical facts.

History buffs, law nerds, civil rights activists, and gun enthusiasts will love this movie. As an enthusiast of history and constitutional law, I found this to be a fascinating look into the roots of the Second Amendment, and the very reasons we continue to have it. What we see on news programs tends to leave us with very little information, and this movie takes a very careful look at the Second Amendment in context of several aspects, among them the civil rights movement, violence prevention, a detailed (rather than broad) look at statistics of gun violence, and the number of intriguing profiles of gun owners. With Ice T narrating, it shifts the discussion away from hackneyed debate the Second Amendment rights being about just magazine capacity or "assault weapons". It's a great movie-go see it!