In March 2009, the McCormick Freedom Museum released a lesson plan and hosted teacher seminars that examined this timely question: Is the right to keep and bear arms in the United States an individual or collective right? This page provides materials that were shared during the seminar, as well as resources that can be used to supplement the lesson plan. Please visit us at www.FreedomMuseum.US to learn about new professional development opportunities, classroom resources and our school outreach program. 

Click here to participate in our To Keep & Bear Arms Educator Forum where you can share ideas and insights surrounding this topic and the lesson plan with your colleagues!

Lesson Plan Materials
Complete Lesson Plan (3MB/contains all items listed below)
Concept Formation Worksheet (60KB)
Symposium Worksheet (70KB)
Classroom Poster (2MB)



Background Materials for Educators
Teacher Seminar PowerPoint by Shawn Healy (2.8MB)
Teacher Seminar Bibliography by Shawn Healy (55KB)
Teacher Seminar PowerPoint by Nina Vinik/Wheaton seminar (155KB)



Links to Relevant Web Sites
Pro-Gun Control Organizations/Gun Violence Prevention Programs
Local/State
Illinois Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
Project Safe Neighborhoods (Chicago)
The Chicago Project for Violence Prevention & Ceasefire
University of Chicago Crime Lab - Chicago Youth Gun Violence Initiative

National
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
Coalition to Stop Gun Violence
John Hopkins Center for Gun Policy & Research
Project Safe Neighborhoods (National)
Violence Policy Center



Pro-Gun Rights Organizations
Local/State
Armed Citizens of Chicago
ICarry.org
Illinois Carry
Illinois State Rifle Association

National
Cato Institute
Gun Owners of America
National Rifle Association
Second Amendment Foundation Online



Additional Sites
Federal agency charged with regulating firearms
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)

Daily gun policy and firearm violence prevention news from global media
GunPolicy.org

Data on crime trends frequently associated with gun violence
U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics

Image Captions (Images and captions appear in the lesson plan poster)
1-New York, NY Thirty-two female protesters wearing ribbons with the Virginia Tech University colors lie down in Times Square in New York on May 24, 2007 in commemoration of the 32 victims of the Virginia Tech shooting rampage. The women laid on the ground for a few minutes to symbolize the length of time it took for the shooter to obtain a gun in the Commonwealth of Virginia. (Source: Getty Images)
2-Chicago, IL Students take a stance against gun violence that has rattled their community. In 2008 alone, more than 500 were murdered in Chicago, the majority resulting from gun violence. During the 2007-2008 school year, 36 Chicago Public School students were murdered. (Source: Getty Images)
3-Washington, D.C. Defendant Richard Heller, in D.C. v. Heller (2008), successfully challenged the constitutionality of the District of Columbia’s law banning individual handgun ownership. (Source: Getty Images)
4-Siloam Springs, AR Defendant Jack Miller lost his attempt to strike down the National Firearms Act of 1934 as unconstitutional on Second Amendment grounds in U.S. v. Miller (1939).