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Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America Reprint Edition

4.5 out of 5 stars 403

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A provocative history that reveals how guns―not abortion, race, or religion―are at the heart of America's cultural divide.

Gunfight is a timely work examining America’s four-centuries-long political battle over gun control and the right to bear arms. In this definitive and provocative history, Adam Winkler reveals how guns―not abortion, race, or religion―are at the heart of America’s cultural divide. Using the landmark 2008 case District of Columbia v. Heller―which invalidated a law banning handguns in the nation’s capital―as a springboard, 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. 20 illustrations

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Editorial Reviews

Review

A potboiler of constitutional interpretation and is both a vital history and an intellectually satisfying, emotionally rewarding tale of a great case. --Jim Newton"

A succinct and fascinating introduction to the legal and historical issues at the heart of the gun debate. --Eric Arnesen, professor of history at George Washington University and fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars"

Adam Winkler tells the remarkable story of the rag-tag group of libertarian lawyers who challenged nearly a century of lower-court precedent to bring a clear-cut Second Amendment case to the Supreme Court. . . . . An engaging and provocative legal drama about the six-year courtroom journey of District of Columbia v Heller and a fascinating survey of the misunderstood history of guns and gun control in America. "

Adam Winkler's Gunfight is a potboiler of constitutional interpretation and is both a vital history and an intellectually satisfying, emotionally rewarding tale of a great case. --Jim Newton

In Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America, Adam Winkler tells the remarkable story of the rag-tag group of libertarian lawyers who challenged nearly a century of lower-court precedent to bring a clear-cut Second Amendment case to the Supreme Court.This is an engaging and provocative legal drama about the six-year courtroom journey of District of Columbia v Heller and a fascinating survey of the misunderstood history of guns and gun control in America.

About the Author

Adam Winkler is a professor at UCLA School of Law, where he specializes in American constitutional law. His scholarship has been cited by the Supreme Court of the United States and his writing has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, New Republic, Atlantic, Slate, and Scotusblog.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (July 15, 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393345831
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393345834
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1 x 8.3 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 403

About the author

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Adam Winkler
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Adam Winkler is a Professor of Law at UCLA. He is the author of the critically acclaimed “Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America” and “We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights,” which was a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. He is one of the top 20 most cited law professors today in American courts and his scholarship has been cited by the Supreme Court of the United States in landmark First and Second Amendment cases. He is a frequent commentator on the Supreme Court and on gun policy with appearances on Face the Nation, NBC Nightly News, ABC News, Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, New York Review of Books, Wall Street Journal, New Republic, Atlantic, Washington Post, and Slate. He was born in Los Angeles, the son of Academy Award-winning filmmaker Irwin Winkler.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
403 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2019
I originally bought this book after listening to a YouTube video of Professor Winkler and Adam Gura (attorney of record in the Heller case) discussing the second amendment. The professor struck me as being both very knowledgable on the subject, but also very rational and reasoned in his argument. I bought it in order to better understand and possibly refute some of the points that Professor Winkler has been quoted as making concerning gun control. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that he not only recognizes the importance of the second amendment, but he agrees with the view that it represents an individual right.

I have become somewhat of a second amendment history buff, and have spent much time researching the subject on the internet. This has included downloading or buying copies of the original works in many cases, such as Benjamin Oliver on the rights of Americans, and Story and Rawle's expositions on the constitution. Thus, I was able to confirm many of his comments on gun control in the early history of the colonies as being accurate. Researching other comments showed that he was not misrepresenting historical fact in order to make it conform to his idea of the truth, but rather putting it out there in an unbiased form for the reader to consider. As for gun control, he makes a case for reasoned, rational laws that allow law-abiding Americans to keep and bear arms while attempting to put stumbling blocks in the way of prohibited people obtaining guns through purchases. One such method is universal background checks on purchases.

[Editorial comments] I don not like the idea of universal checks, but I can't argue that such checks are unconstitutional when gun control of even more draconian proportions was not only put into practice in the past, but had popular support. Neither the Heller nor the McDonald opinions contain language that would prevent putting background checks on sales into effect. Sales, mind you, not loans, such as has been written into recent laws passed in several states. I believe these provisions will fail the intermediate scrutiny test if and when they are finally brought to the Supreme Court. [Ok, off my soap box]

While I don't agree 100% with all of his conclusions, I think that this book is an excellent commentary on guns and the second amendment. I heartily recommend it to readers on both sides of this argument,.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2011
I've been a serious student of the gun control debate for over thirty years so I was anxious to read Adam Winkler's "Gun Fight."

I know all the arguments by heart, so I wasn't reading to learn the history. It may seem odd, but I wanted to know what Winkler, a defacto "Liberal" in my mind, due to his being a law professor at UCLA, had to say about this issue that fascinates me and polarizes society. Was he a closet gun lover? There are Liberal gun rights advocates - quite a few actually.

I enjoyed the storyline, which intersperses scenes from the Heller case in the Supreme Court with short history lessons. Most of the history seemed pretty accurate to me, although I did not take the time to do a Bellesiles check and look up his many footnoted references.

For much of the book it was hard to tell if the author was a liberal gun grabber or a conservative gun nut. He did a great job of skewering both the pro and anti-gun lobbies evenly. The one thing that tipped me off was a consistent thread in his attitude about gun laws.

Whenever he commented on a legislative stalemate or victory for the gun rights lobby, he seemed sad that no gun control laws were passed. If we could just work together, we could pass some nice new gun laws. He also frequently used terms like "reasonable gun safety laws" that are straight out of the gun grabber dictionary.

While Winkler briefly mentions the fact that current gun laws are ineffective, he does not seem at all bothered by it. He admits that guns aren't going to go away in America, but he seems certain that a magical law to render them safe is just around the corner if we will stop fighting and be reasonable.

Winkler seems oblivious to the complete and utter failure of gun control laws to provide any real, measurable, public benefit whenever they have been enacted.

This failure to make the logical connection is the biggest flaw in the book, but I would still recommend it to anyone who wants a fun and fast read on the history of the gun control debate in America.
74 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2014
I was very apprehensive in picking up this book because I thought it was just going to be a gun control book masquerading as "fair and balanced" book. I've got to say that this book is not neutral at all. It gives you both sides of the argument in a fairly raw yet thorough fashion and the author has a particular viewpoint and political slant. I won't label him with a label like liberal. I think he's a nuanced academic.

My recommendation is that if you're a gun rights or gun control person that you give this book a chance and by that I mean read a few chapters before you make a decision. Both sides will be smarter by reading this work.

Overall, it's a nicely structured story that looks at the Heller decision but it pretty thoroughly looks at the history of the second amendment: what the founders thought, gun control in the early republic, flaws with the books of other prominent pro and anti gun supporters, the academic angle on gun control, what people and the states thought in the 1800s and 1900s, slavery, the fourteenth amendment, etc.

It's quite thorough and I'm completey enjoying reading this very well written and balanced book. If you are pro gun rights or pro gun control, you owe it to yourself to read this book.
It does carve out the reality of the debate nicely and blows wide holes in both the pro gun control group's arguments while at the same time blowing huge holes in the gun rights group's rhetoric. You wind up a smarter individual after reading this regardless of what side of the debate you're on.

If you're fervently on either side of the debate, you're going to take exception to this work so be warned.
5 people found this helpful
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Lucca Canizela De Camargo
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb
Reviewed in Brazil on May 22, 2022
Very informative book!
David
5.0 out of 5 stars A matter of interpretation
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 24, 2018
Curiosity on one single issue led to the purchase of this book, and it's this: why would any nation continue to allow essentially the greater portion of its society to buy a gun, and in a growing number of instances enable some (albeit a relatively small percentage of the entire population of approximately 327.3 million) to then commit mass murder? Surely, the obvious answer would be to ban guns in essentially the same way they were banned after Hungerford in the UK? But there's a bit of a problem with this scenario when it comes to the United States of America. You see, by law it's perfectly legal to pop out and buy almost any type of handgun (excluding Washington DC), shotgun, assault rifle, you name it. And here's the rub: it's part of the American Constitution, in fact they call it the Second Amendment. In simple terms the Second Amendment is about trust, or more specifically, the lack of trust. The wording of this amendment is widely familiar 'the right to bear arms', an insurance clause, just in case the military does not behave, and starts shooting the rest of their American peoples, in which case the Militia can pick up their arms and give the military (and possibly the government) a bloody nose, or worse. This is clearly a hugely simplified view, but it's not that far from the truth. Despite many challenges to the Second Amendment, they have had little or no real impact, most thwarted by the unprecedented power of the NRA. But it has not always been so. The founding Fathers of America did introduce controls of who was entitled to possess guns. The whole issue rests on interpretation of the wording; an impasse and an enigma which short of some unlikely mass epiphany will remain the status quo. Mass shootings seem likely to continue unabated. The full story on this sad constitutional conundrum is clearly, and interestingly explained by Adam Winkler in his book 'Gun Fight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America.' When you finish reading the book you may not like what you've read, but it does explain why one of the most advanced nations in the world is grappling with such an archaic constitutional amendment. Well worth reading.
2 people found this helpful
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Rosieriveter
5.0 out of 5 stars The shocking results of Scalia's legal theory.
Reviewed in Canada on November 5, 2015
An excellent book that seemingly takes no obvious position in this polarized issue. Can safely be read by both "sides". I found it very interesting, especially the history, the backroom strategizing and the legal analysis. Several surprises too.
Waffe-n der Frau
5.0 out of 5 stars Ausgewogene Darstellung der Waffendebatte in den USA
Reviewed in Germany on April 11, 2016
Wenn mir jemand sagen würde, er möchte nur ein einziges Buch über den Kampf um Waffenrechte in Amerika lesen, dann würde ich ihm Adam Winklers „Gun Fight“ empfehlen. Ich kenne kein Buch, das einen besseren Überblick bieten würde. Ein großer Pluspunkt des Buches: Man kann es sowohl jemandem, der der für einschränkende Waffengesetze ist, empfehlen, als auch jemandem, der gegen sie ist.

Für die Mehrheit der Leser mag es aber erfreulich sein, dass „Gun Fight“ keine wissenschaftliche Abhandlung ist, sondern ein kurzweiliges, informatives Sachbuch mit einer spannenden Erzählstruktur.

Den Haupterzählstrang bildet der Prozess gegen die restriktiven Waffengesetze in Washington D.C. (District of Columbia vs. Heller),v.a. das Verbot von Handfeuerwaffen, die als gegen die Verfassung , respektive das Second Amendment (den 2. Verfassungszusatz) verstoßend angesehen wurden und der bis vor das Oberste Gericht ging und dort zugunsten des Klägers entschieden wurde. Als Fußnote lässt sich hier anmerken, dass Washington D.C. somit etwas an der Gesetzgebung ändern musste – hier setzt im Prinzip das Buch von Emily Miller „Emily Gets Her Gun“ an, in dem sie ihren – immer noch steinigen, schwierigen – Weg zur eigenen Pistole beschreibt.

Begonnen hatte das Ganze als Idee zweier libertärer Juristen in einer Bar bei ein paar Drinks und es endete, wie schon erwähnt, mit der Entscheidung des obersten Gerichts, dass der 2. Verfassungszusatz den Bürgern das Recht auf Waffenbesitz zur Selbstverteidigung garantiert. Es werden die Hintergründe und Ansichten der Akteure – Alan Gura, ein junger, unerfahrener Anwalt, der den Prozess für sich entscheiden konnte, Dellinger, der Staatsanwalt, die neun Richter des obersten Gerichts und einige andere – beleuchtet. Es wird erzählt, wie es nach dem Abend in der Bar überhaupt zu dem Gerichtsverfahren kam und warum es vielleicht nicht zu diesem gekommen wäre – wobei die NRA, man mag es zunächst für paradox halten, eine wichtige Rolle spielte, ebenso wie Steve Halbrook (ja, der Autor von „Gun Control in the Third Reich“), der zunächst der Wunschkandidat als Anwalt für jenen Fall war, aber leider zu viel Geld verlangt hatte und später als Anwalt für die NRA arbeitete, um die Annahme des Falles vor Gericht zu verhindern.

Eingewoben in diese Erzählung des Gerichtsfalles und seiner Umstände sind geschichtliche Hintergründe, die zum Verständnis des Verhältnisses Amerikas und der Amerikaner zu Waffen unverzichtbar sind.

Die Dreiteilung des Buches bietet mit den Kapiteln „Big Guns and Little Guns at the Supreme Court“, „Gun Grabbers“ und „Gun Nuts“ erst mal die Einleitung, in der der Gerichtsfall an sich, aber auch die Pro- und Kontra –Waffen-Positionen anhand von Personen, Organisationen wie die NRA und die Brady-Campaign, anschaulich gemacht werden.

Der Hauptteil führt den Gerichtsfall weiter und bietet ferner viel geschichtliches Backgroundwissen zu Waffenbesitz und Waffenkontrolle in den USA. Das erste Kapitel „Guns of Our Fathers“ beschreibt die Vorgänge vom Ende des 17. Jh. an, die überhaupt erst zum 2. Verfassungszusatz geführt haben: Eigentlich begann es nämlich mit England und dem englischen Bill of Rights, der den Waffenbesitz zur Selbstverteidigung garantierte. Es geht weiter mit der Bürgerkriegszeit bzw. danach, als die „Black Codes“, Gesetze, die die weiße Vormachtstellung im Süden weiterhin garantieren und selbstverständlich die Schwarzen vom Waffenbesitz ausschließen sollten, geschaffen wurden. Adam Winkler schreibt in seinem Vorwort, er sei bei seinen Recherchen zu dem Buch ganz erstaunt gewesen, wie viel Waffengesetze immer auch mit Rasse und Rassismus zu tun hatten und haben. Auch als die Waffengesetze in den 60er/70er Jahren verschärft wurden, war das auf das Wirken der Bewegung der Black Panthers zurückzuführen, die von dem damals geltenden Recht des offenen Führens von Lang- und Kurzwaffen Gebrauch machten, um sich gegen rassistische Polizei-Willkür zu wehren („By All Means Necessary“).

Auch dem viel- beschworenen „Wilden Westen“, von dem immer die Rede ist, wenn auf allzu freizügige Waffengesetze hingewiesen werden soll, ist ein gleichnamiges Kapitel gewidmet („Wild West“), das darstellt, dass der Wilde Westen gar nicht so wild war, wie immer behauptet wird, denn die „frontier-towns“ hatten meist strikte Regeln, dass Waffen entweder außerhalb der Stadt bleiben oder beim Sheriff abgegeben werden mussten.

Bei einer Abhandlung über die Waffenrechte in den USA dürfen die Gangster der 20er/30er-Jahre nicht fehlen, die im Zeitalter von wirtschaftlicher Depression und der Prohibition eine wichtige Rolle spielten und deren ungesetzlicher und oft letaler Waffengebrauch zu Restriktionen führte (Beispiel: hohe Steuern auf vollautomatische Waffen).

Der kurze dritte Teil enthält nur das Kapitel „Decision“ und den Epilog. Es wird die Entscheidungsfindung des Obersten Gerichts wie auch die Urteilsverkündung nachgezeichnet.

Ich muss sagen, dass ich in diesem Buch nicht nur über das Second Amendment und Waffenrechte in den USA viel gelernt habe, sondern auch über das Oberste Gericht.

Da Gura bei der Befragung durch das Oberste Gericht einräumte, dass der 2. Verfassungszusatz nicht bedeute, dass der Staat überhaupt keine Gesetze zur Waffenregulierung erlassen dürfe, entschieden die Richter zu seinen Gunsten. Der Sieg war laut Winkler ein Mittelweg – eigentlich ein Sieg für beide Seiten, denn weder lässt das Urteil nun und künftig völlige Waffenverbote zu (womit das Oberste Gericht den 2. Verfassungszusatz so verstehen, dass es ein individuelles Recht auf Waffen beinhaltet, nicht nur ein Recht für Bürgermilizen; Ein Standpunkt, den die Gun-Grabber verneinen), noch verhindert es, dass überhaupt irgendein Waffengesetz erlassen werden darf.

Winkler zeigt am Beispiel des Gerichtsurteils über die Unrechtmäßigkeit des Ausschlusses schwarzer Schüler aus weißen Schulen Ende der 50er Jahre, das auf so breite Widerstände in der Bevölkerung stieß, dass die Integration schwarzer Schüler zu jener Zeit unmöglich war, dass das Gericht besser dem gesellschaftlichen Zeitgeist etwas hinterherhinken sollte, als ihm als Avantgarde vorauszupreschen. Das tat das Gericht mit diesem Urteil, denn laut Umfragen glauben 83% der Amerikaner, dass es dieses individuelle Recht auf Waffenbesitz gibt, wohingegen nur 17% der Ansicht sind, dass nur der Staat ein Recht auf Waffen hat.

Ganz am Ende des Buches, in den Danksagungen, sagt Winkler etwas zu seiner persönlichen Ansicht und Einstellung: Er dankt seiner Frau und seiner Tochter für deren Unterstützung und die letzen 2 Sätze des Buches lauten dann so: „Sie (Frau und Tochter) verkörpern den Grund, warum ein gesetzestreuer Bürger eine eigene Waffe besitzen wollen könnte. Es gibt nichts, was mir teurer ist als sie.“

LESEN!
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Mr. Abus
5.0 out of 5 stars Sehr schöner Überblick über die amerikanische Waffendebatte (English translation below)
Reviewed in Germany on August 15, 2020
Ich habe mich in letzter Zeit in die amerikanische Waffendebatte ziemlich intensiv eingelesen und finde, dass dieses Buch eine herausragende Einführung darstellt.

Der Autor ist Jurist, verzichtet aber nahezu völlig auf Juristenenglisch und irgendwelche komplizierten juristischen Ausführungen. Er hat für die Allgemeinheit geschrieben und nicht für seine Kollegen. Es ist sogar spannend und lebendig geworden.

Das Buch kreist um die wichtigste Entscheidung, die der Supreme Court in den letzten Jahrzehnten im Waffenrecht gefällt hat, nämlich District of Columbia v. Heller. In diesem 2008 ergangenen Urteil wurde entschieden, dass jeder Amerikaner das Recht hat, Waffen zur Selbstverteidigung zu besitzen.

Während Winkler diese bahnbrechende Entscheidung Stück für Stück sich entwickeln lässt, macht er immer wieder Exkurse in jene Abschnitte der amerikanischen Geschichte, die die Waffendebatte maßgeblich beeinflusst haben und das macht das Buch so lebendig und faszinierend. Man wird in den Wilden Westen versetzt, der gar nicht so wild war wie er immer dargestellt wird, man macht Bekanntschaft mit dem Ku-Klux-Klan, mit Al Capone, Bonnie und Clyde, man erfährt, wie sich die NRA von einem politisch eher harmlosen Schiesssportverband zu einer politisch wirkmächtigen Organisation der Waffenbesitzer entwickelt hat usw..
Nebenbei erfährt man Interessantes über die Arbeitsweise des Supreme Court und die Marotten so mancher Richter, z.B. warum es im Verhandlungssaal neben den Richterstühlen Spucknäpfe gibt.

Daneben fallen auch viele Namen, die in den letzten Jahren und Jahrzehnten die amerikanische Waffendebatte nachhaltig beeinflusst haben, z.B. Stephen Halbrook, John Lott oder Nelson Lund. Man erfährt sogar, was man berappen muss, wenn man Halbrook, den prominentesten Waffenrechtsanwalt der USA, für sich arbeiten lassen will.

Obwohl sich das Buch wie ein Roman liest, ist es dennoch ein Sachbuch und verzichtet daher auch nicht auf einen entsprechenden Anmerkungsapparat.

Aber das ist noch immer nicht alles, was es über dieses Buch zu sagen gibt. Winkler gelingt es sogar, die amerikanische Waffendebatte neutral und ausgewogen darzustellen. Er lässt alle Seiten zu Wort kommen, weswegen man das Buch sogar einem Waffengegner zum Lesen geben kann.

Fazit: Wer einen spannenden und kenntnisreich geschrieben Überblick über den amerikanischen Waffendiskurs sucht, der kommt hier voll und ganz auf seine Kosten. Absolute Leseempfehlung!

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

An excellent description of the American gun debate, from the Founding Fathers to the present

I have been studying the American gun debate quite extensively lately and find this book to be an outstanding introduction.

The author is a lawyer, but almost completely avoids legalese and any complicated legal explanations. He has written for the general public and not for his colleagues. In fact, it has become exciting and lively.

The book revolves around the most important decision the Supreme Court has handed down in gun law in recent decades, District of Columbia v. Heller. This 2008 ruling held that every American has the right to keep guns for self-defense.

As Winkler presents this landmark decision piece by piece, he repeatedly makes digressions into those periods of American history that have had a significant impact on the gun debate. This is what makes the book so lively and fascinating. One is transported to the Wild West, which was not as wild as it is always portrayed, one becomes acquainted with the Ku Klux Klan, with Al Capone, Bonnie and Clyde, one learns how the NRA developed from a politically harmless shooting sports association into a powerful political organization for the protection of the Second Amendment.
Along the way, you learn interesting facts about the workings of the Supreme Court and the quirks of some of the justices, such as why there are spittoons next to the judges' chairs in the courtroom.

In addition, many names are mentioned that have had a lasting influence on the American gun debate in recent years and decades, e.g. Stephen Halbrook, John Lott or Nelson Lund. You even learn what you have to pay if you want Halbrook, the most prominent gun rights lawyer in the U.S., to work for you.

Although the book reads like a novel, it is nonfiction and therefore does not lack an appropriate annotation apparatus.

But that is still not all that can be said about this book. Winkler even manages to present the American gun debate in a neutral and balanced way. He lets all sides have their say, which is why you can even give the book to a gun opponent to read.

Conclusion: If you are looking for an exciting and knowledgeably written overview of the American gun debate, you will get your money's worth here. Absolutely worth a read!