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There are more civilian-owned firearms in the United States than in any other nation on earth. To many, gun ownership is the ultimate expression of our freedom and of the promise that power ultimately resides with the people, not the state. But they are also part of the reason that we have more gun deaths than anywhere else in the developed world.

The debate on guns in America stems from a single sentence from our Bill of Rights, written in 1791: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

That sentence—the Second Amendment of our Constitution, and the question of whether America would be safer without it—was the focus of our final live debate of 2025, held before a packed house at Chicago’s Studebaker Theater. On stage were two formidable debaters: attorney and law professor Alan Dershowitz, and Dana Loesch, radio host, author, and former spokesperson for the National Rifle Association.

“If I were grading the framers for how they drafted the Second Amendment,” Dershowitz quipped, “they get a C+ with grade inflation.”