Joyce Lee Malcolm (born October 17, 1941) is the

Patrick Henry Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736 ld Style and New Style dates, O.S. May 18, 1736une 6, 1799) was an American politician, planter and orator who declared to the Virginia Conventions, Second Virginia Convention (1775): "Give me liberty or give m ...

Professor of

Constitutional Law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...

and the

Second Amendment The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

George Mason University School of Law The Antonin Scalia Law School is the law school of George Mason University, Virginia's largest public research university. It is located in Arlington, Virginia, roughly west of Washington, D.C., and east-northeast of George Mason University's ...

. She has been called "the leading historian on the history of English

gun control Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms and ammunition by civilians. Most countries allow civilians to own firearms, bu ...

and

gun rights The right to keep and bear arms (often referred to as the right to bear arms) is a legal right for people to possess weapons (arms) for the preservation of life, liberty, and property. The purpose of gun rights is for self-defense, as well as ...

" by

David Kopel David B. Kopel (born January 7, 1960) is an American author, attorney, gun rights advocate, and contributing editor to several publications. As of August 2021, he is research director of the Independence Institute, associate policy analyst at th ...

Education

Malcolm received her B.A. from

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

and her M.A. and Ph.D. from

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

Career

Malcolm taught at

Bentley University Bentley University is a private university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded in 1917 as a school of accounting and finance in Boston's Back Bay, Boston, Back Bay neighborhood. Bentley has one undergraduate school which off ...

from 1988 to 2006, serving as an associate professor of history for the first four of these years and a full professor for the remaining fourteen. In 2006, she joined George Mason University and became the Patrick Henry Professor of Constitutional Law and the Second Amendment there, a position she has held ever since. The position is wholly funded by the

National Rifle Association of America The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...

(NRA). Her other positions prior to joining George Mason University included professorships at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU or NEU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association in 1898 as an all-male instit ...

and

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

Work on the Second Amendment and gun control

Malcolm is the author of the book ''To Keep and Bear Arms: The Origins of an Anglo-American Right'', published in 1994 by

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

. The book details the origin of the Second Amendment in the American Constitution, which, according to the book, lies in a British tradition of maintaining a civilian army to counteract tyranny. In the book, Malcolm also claims that beginning in the 14th century, even as firearm ownership became more common over the following five centuries, violent crime rates declined. She has been called one of the five "inner circle" proponents of the "Standard Model" interpretation of the Second Amendment, along with Robert J. Cottrol, Stephen P. Halbrook, Don B. Kates, and Robert E. Shalhope.

Views on gun control

In 2012, Malcolm wrote an opinion piece for the ''Wall Street Journal'' stating that strict gun control laws enacted after mass shootings in Britain and Australia "haven't made their people noticeably safer, nor have they prevented massacres." The following year, she told ''PBS NewsHour'' that she thought the

Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 The Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 (AWB 2013) was a bill introduced in the 113th United States Congress as by Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-CA, on January 24, 2013, one month after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. It was defeated in the S ...

was unconstitutional because recent Supreme Court decisions had found that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own guns that are commonly used for protection.

Other work

Malcolm is also the author of ''Peter's War: A New England Slave Boy and the American Revolution'', a 2009 book that tells the story of the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

from the perspective of an enslaved boy named Peter Sharon, who fought in the colonies' army during the war and a biography of

Benedict Arnold Benedict Arnold (#Brandt, Brandt (1994), p. 4June 14, 1801) was an American-born British military officer who served during the American Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of ...

entitled ''The Tragedy of Benedict Arnold: An American Life''.

Awards and honors

Malcolm is a fellow of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society (RHS), founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the H ...

, and ''Peter's War: A New England Slave Boy and the American Revolution'' was nominated for a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

in 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malcolm, Joyce Lee 1941 births Living people Antonin Scalia Law School faculty Barnard College alumni Brandeis University alumni American gun rights activists American scholars of constitutional law 21st-century American historians American women historians Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Bentley University faculty British women historians American women legal scholars American legal scholars 21st-century American women