The Invention of an Epidemic
Summary
Malcolm Gladwell presents a chapter from his new book, *The American Way of Killing*, arguing that the Second Amendment was drafted to protect Southern slave patrols rather than individual gun rights. He details the 1739 Stono Rebellion in South Carolina, which terrified plantation owners and led to the creation of armed militias for slave control. Using linguistic analysis of 18th-century grammar, Gladwell contends that the Supreme Court’s interpretation in *District of Columbia v. Heller* misreads the amendment’s structure. The episode concludes by asserting that the true historical conte…
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