Gunfight; The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America
New York, N.Y. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2011. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. xi, [1]. 361, [9] pages. Illustrations. Red dot on top edge. Includes Preface, Part 1--Big Guns and Little Guns at the Supreme Court; "Gun Grabbers", "Gun Nuts"; Part II--Guns of of Our Fathers; Civil War; The Wild West; Gangsters, Guns, and G-Men; By Any Means Necessary; Part III--Decision, and Epilogue. Also includes Acknowledgments, Notes, and Index. Using the landmark 2008 case of District of Columbia v. Heller as a springboard, constitutional law scholar Adam Winkler has written a compelling history of America's centuries long battle over the right to bear arms. Contrary to the extremist views of hard-liners on both sides, Winkler shows that Americans have always had both the right to own guns and gun control. Beginning his narrative in the late eighteenth century, Winkler reveals that the founding fathers, who wrote the "maddeningly ambiguous" Second Amendment, favored gun laws far more restrictive than the NRA would ever support; that nearly everybody in the Wild West had guns, but vigorously enforced gun control was commonplace in frontier towns; and that the NRA used to sponsor burdensome gun control laws that the organization today fights to overturn. This book shows that we can have both an individual right to have guns for self-defense and, at the same time, laws designed to improve gun safety. The two ideas--the right to bear arms and gun control--are not mutually exclusive propositions. In fact, America has always had both. Adam Winkler (born July 25, 1967) is the Connell Professor of law at the UCLA School of Law. He is the author of We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights, which was a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award for Nonfiction. He has been ranked as one of twenty most cited legal scholars in judicial opinions, including landmark Supreme Court cases on the First and Second Amendments. He is also the author of Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America, and is a frequent commentator on legal issues. Winkler is a nationally recognized expert on American constitutional law. Winkler's writing on the right to bear arms, which is notable for nuanced position—recognizing both the individual right to possess firearms and the legitimacy of effective gun control—has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and numerous lower courts. His book Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America details the importance of the right to bear arms throughout American history, while also showing how that right has been balanced with laws to enhance gun safety since the founding era. Gunfight promises to be a seminal work in its examination of America's four-centuries-long political battle over gun control and the right to bear arms. In the tradition of Gideon's Trumpet, Adam Winkler uses the landmark 2008 case District of Columbia v. Heller, which invalidated a law banning handguns in the nation's capital, as a springboard for a groundbreaking historical narrative. From the Founding Fathers and the Second Amendment to the origins of the Klan, ironically as a gun control organization, the debate over guns has always generated controversy. Whether examining the Black Panthers' role in provoking the modern gun rights movement or Ronald Reagan's efforts to curtail gun ownership, Winkler brilliantly weaves together the dramatic stories of gun rights advocates and gun control lobbyists, providing often unexpected insights into the venomous debate that now cleaves our nation. Derived from a Kirkus review: In his first book, Daily Beast columnist Winkler takes on the contentious issue of gun control in the United States. There have always been plenty of guns in America, but also plenty of gun control. For the author, there remains a need for both, yet extremist positions have emerged on both sides. “Gun nuts” argue for the absolute right of individuals to arm themselves, “gun grabbers” for a complete ban on all privately owned guns. The Second Amendment to the Constitution has been of little help, as it is not clear if the Amendment meant simply to ensure the formation of state militias or indeed gave the individual the right to bear arms. In 2008, a Washington, D.C., law banning all handguns was challenged before the U.S. Supreme Court, thus putting to the test the meaning of the Second Amendment. The unifying thread of the book is Winkler’s Grisham-like story of the personalities and issues surrounding this case. He also places the current debate within an often surprising historical context. Yes, the Founding Fathers expected white men to have guns for service in the militia, but they also surrounded such gun possession with rules and regulations. The Wild West was not so wild after all. Places like Tombstone and Dodge City had some of the strongest gun laws ever devised in America. Race has played a large part in gun control, as before and after the Civil War black Americans were often terrorized by armed whites, with little legal recourse to arming themselves for self-defense. In 1967, Gov. Ronald Reagan signed into law strict prohibitions on the carrying of arms after the Black Panthers marched into the California Capitol Building armed to the teeth. In the end, the Supreme Court struck down the D.C. law but also noted there remained the right of government to regulate gun ownership. Winkler writes that this decision may open the way for action to truly reduce gun violence. Detailed, balanced and engrossing. Condition: Very good / Very good.
Keywords: Second Amendment, Right to Bear Arms, Gun Control, Gun Safety, Assault Weapons, Heller, Black Panthers, Brady Bill, Bill of Rights, Civil Rights, Gun Lobby, Alan Gura, Individual Rights, Militia, National Rifle Association, Antonin Scalia
ISBN: 9780393077414
[Book #82428]
Price: $45.00