Yesterday, Glenn reacted to a story out of Denton, Texas involving an AP U.S. History textbook that contained a highly curious definition of the Second Amendment. The book, which the school district claims is merely “supplemental,” defines the Second Amendment as: “The people have the right to keep and bear arms in a state militia.” TheBlaze has since found a similar example out of South Carolina.
“We were just looking at this textbook in South Carolina – oh, Lindsey Graham’s state – and talking about the Constitution and what it's teaching our kids,” Glenn said on radio this morning. “They feel it's necessary to combine the Second and Third Amendment of the Constitution. I don't know why they feel it necessary to combine all of these things. Just write the Bill of Rights."
A high school in Simponville, S.C. is using a textbook that combines the Second and Third Amendment into one singular sentence:
“The Second and Third Amendments — grant citizens the right to bear arms as members of a militia of citizen-soldiers and prevent the government from housing troops in private homes in peacetime.”
In a separate box on the same page, the textbook paraphrases the Second Amendment as “the right to bear arms,” not the right to “keep” and bear arms. And the Third Amendment is separately shortened to “freedom from quartering troops.”
Source: Facebook Screenshot
TheBlaze reports:
According to photos posted on Facebook, the history book is titled, “The Americans,” and is reportedly being used at Hillcrest High School.
The American Textbook Council (ATC) says “The Americans” textbook is considered to be a “widely adopted history textbook” in the United States for “general-level eleventh grade classrooms.”
You might also notice that the Second and Third Amendments are strangely grouped together in a confusion way. The wording could easily be misconstrued as to mean the right to bear arms is linked to preventing the government from housing troops during peacetime, which is not the case.
“There's a lot wrong with it,” Stu said of the definition. “And everybody is focusing on the Second Amendment because that's the one that's really important. And the Third Amendment is the joke amendment because we don't have any problems with quartering soldiers in our homes. However, that is still an incorrect summary…. basically, [the Third Amendment] bans [quartering] all the time and they don't even mention it in there. Again, is it a huge thing? No. But why not get it right?"
“Why not get it right, and why do you have to put them together,” Glenn asked. The Founders didn't put them together. They are not together. And by making it the same sentence, basically, to me, you could read this as saying, ‘Well, you have a right to be in a militia and have a gun to stop somebody from quartering somebody in your home.’”
“What they are doing is what they do with all of it – make it confusing, muddy the waters, so nobody really knows what it means. And then they are free to do anything they want,” he continued. “I'm telling you, we have lost your country. Because these textbooks, they have been found in South Carolina. They are found in Texas. I can guarantee you they are all over in New York. We’ve lost at least one generation. We have got to double our efforts to hold on to our children. Forget about the bigger picture. Hold on tightly to your children and to your own faith and to the things that you know to be true. And strengthen them.”
