Gun Control on Trial: Inside the Supreme Court Battle Over the Second Amendment [Hardcover]

Brian Doherty (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 16, 2009

This past June, the Supreme Court decided a question at the heart of one of America's most impassioned debates, ruling that individual citizens have the constitutional right to possess guns. With that decision, the District's handgun ban--one of the toughest and most controversial in the nation--was ended. In Gun Control on Trial, journalist Brian Doherty tells the full story behind the landmark District of Columbia v. Heller ruling. With exclusive, behind the scenes access throughout the case, Doherty delved into the issues of this monumental case to provide a compelling look at the inside stories, including: The plaintiffs' fight for the right to protect themselves and their families from violent neighborhoods. The activist lawyers who worked exhaustively to affirm that right. The forces that fought to stop the case, including city officials and the NRA. The story of the Heller case stretches back to long before the decision struck down D.C.'s restrictive gun ban and forward to the future of the political and legal battle over gun control in America. Doherty provides clear, concise explanations of the issues and battles that have driven the gun control debate for decades, detailing how the Heller decision is a new starting point for the gun control debate as it passionately and energetically continues in the years ahead. It's important to note that the Heller decision does not settle every controversy in the gun control debate. It only settles the legal question of whether or not the right to possess weapons under the Second Amendment extends to personal self-defense: it does, writes Doherty. What the Supreme Court decided in Heller may be narrow in its direct and immediate effect; but it's deep in its implications for the relationship between the government and the American people, explains Doherty. It establishes a new shape to the arena in which the legal and political struggle over guns and gun control will be fought. And that fight assuredly continues.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"As Brian Doherty so clearly demonstrates in Gun Control on Trial, were it not for the rights guaranteed in the Second Amendment--and reaffirmed, in this inside account, by the Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller--we would forfeit our individual right to survive."
--NAT HENTOFF
Columnist, Village Voice
Author, Living the Bill of Rights: How to Be an Authentic American

"Brian Doherty's Gun Control on Trial is to the Heller case what Richard Kluger's Simple Justice is to the Brown decision--an essential history made up of equal parts legal theory and personal struggle, presented in page-turning fashion."
--GLENN REYNOLDS
Professor of Law, University of Tennessee
Founder, Instapundit.com

"The Supreme Court's Heller decision wasn't merely a political bombshell, it was an historic advance in the ongoing struggle to restore the first human right: the right to self-defense. Brian Doherty, a tireless intellectual sleuth, not only sheds light on the political and legal questions surrounding gun rights today, he lucidly puts them in their proper historical and philosophical context. This is required reading for those interested in, never mind committed to, the right to self-defense."
--JONAH GOLDBERG
Contributing Editor, National Review
Author, Liberal Fascism

About the Author

Brian Doherty is a senior editor at Reason magazine and Reason.com. He is the author of the books Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement and This is Burning Man. His articles have appeared in dozens of national publications, and he has appeared as a commentator and analyst on hundreds of TV and radio programs.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Cato Institute (January 16, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933995254
• ISBN-13: 978-1933995250
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #677,340 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #45 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Current Events > Gun Control

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comes from a journalist who probes the case and its results, February 13, 2009

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gun Control on Trial: Inside the Supreme Court Battle Over the Second Amendment (Hardcover)

On June 26, 2008 the Supreme Court addressed the country's debate on the right to bear arms, deciding that the right still applied to individuals - and ending the District's handgun ban. GUN CONTROL ON TRIAL comes from a journalist who probes the case and its results, offering behind-the-scenes insight on the legal, scientific and historical debates and the myths about gun control that have permeated the case. Any high school to college-level collection strong in social issues will find here perfect material for classroom debate.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice summary of what really happened in the Heller case, August 14, 2009

By 

Eric Davis "grizz30002" (Bennett, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gun Control on Trial: Inside the Supreme Court Battle Over the Second Amendment (Hardcover)

As a NRA member, I was shocked to read about how little the NRA had to do with the Heller case!
Although I don't totally agree with the CATO Institute all the time (Libertarian Ideologues), they really came through for us law abiding gun owners.
Now, unfortunately, the NRA is running with the Heller case results as if they had something to do with it.
This is a good book to learn what really happened and why.

10 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Important material crisply delivered., February 24, 2009

By 

M. Dillon (Oak Hill, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gun Control on Trial: Inside the Supreme Court Battle Over the Second Amendment (Hardcover)

This book is short but packed with the important details of the issues, the people, and the trial itself. It is accessible for the layman but not lightweight: a quick, fun read on what was arguably the most important Supreme Court decision of this century. While the author is not shy with his own opinion he is not overbearing or overheated as too much of Second Amendment discourse has been.