Gun Control on Trial: Inside the Supreme Court Battle Over the Second Amendment (Kindle Edition)

by Brian Doherty (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

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.

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

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• Print Length: 160 pages
• Publisher: Cato Institute (December 25, 2008)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B001OI1WLI
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #82,280 in Kindle Store (See Bestsellers in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Propaganda, not journalism, September 26, 2009

By	M. J. Wilkinson (Santa Rosa, California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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

When an author is ideologically committed to a cause -- in this case, unfettered gun ownership -- the product is certain to be biased and incomplete. So it is with this book. As John Lott, Jr. points out in an Amazon review here, the Heller case has a wealth of interesting complexities, one of which is its support for controls on gun ownership, but author Brian Doherty is more interested in preaching a sermon than exploring the issues.

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.

3.0 out of 5 stars government report, May 31, 2009

By	Lauren T. - See all my reviews

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

I thought that this book was very well written. While it is a bit of a dry read the author does a good job of staying generally objective and supporting his arguments with facts. Overall it is an informative book that presents a good case on a position on the controversial issue of gun control in the United States.
Lauren T.