What Malcolm Gladwell has said about Second Amendment to the United States Constitution

2 quotes · 1 episode · Oct 7, 2026

Malcolm Gladwell, Author of Outliers, whose theory about Chinese numerals Jiang disputes, has been quoted on Second Amendment to the United States Constitution 2 times in 1 episode of Next Question with Katie Couric, most recently on October 7, 2026. Each quote below is verbatim and links to the moment it was said.

In their words

Gladwell argues that analysis of 18th-century grammar shows the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Second Amendment is not what its authors meant.
“And if you know the grammar of the 18th century, it is crystal clear what they meant. And what they meant is not the way the court is interpreted”
Next Question with Katie Couric: Malcolm Gladwell on America’s Gun Crisis (Oct 7, 2026) · Listen from 15:10
Gladwell contends the Second Amendment was written to secure Southern slaveholders' militias in exchange for ratification of the Constitution.
“That amendment was written because slave owners in the South, in Virginia and South Carolina, were refusing to ratify the Constitution of the United States”
Next Question with Katie Couric: Malcolm Gladwell on America’s Gun Crisis (Oct 7, 2026) · Listen from 17:37

Malcolm Gladwell on America’s Gun Crisis
Next Question with Katie Couric · Oct 7, 2026 · 1 h 4 min
Katie Couric talks with Malcolm Gladwell about his book The American Way of Killing, covering under-policing, prisons, the Second Amendment, assault weapons bans and gun suicide.