This report examines the portrayal of the Second Amendment of the Constitution (the right to keep and bear arms) in U.S. history and U.S. government textbooks. The document contends that not only were there numerous errors and misrepresentations of facts, but also there were many omissions of various events throughout history. Further research showed that the history of the second amendment virtually was omitted from the texts. The guiding questions of the research included: (1) How accurately and comprehensively do senior high school U.S. history and U.S. government textbooks portray the Second Amendment and the circumstances of its adoption?; (2) When the Second Amendment is included, how much emphasis is given to it compared to other amendments?; and (3) How thoroughly and accurately do the textbooks portray the courts' interpretation of the Second Amendment? Content analysis was conducted for 24 senior high school U.S. history and 8 U.S. government textbooks for all events relating to the Second Amendment. fourteen areas of historical events, legislation, and judicial decisions were examined to determine the accuracy of the coverage of the topic. The study concludes that the textbooks omit important historical and judicial precedents that would give students an accurate portrayal of the evolution of the Second Amendment and subsequent judicial opinions, without which the amendment seems to have sprung from an intellectual vacuum. Contains 30 references. (EH)