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

By Brian Doherty

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1933995254
• ISBN13: 9781933995250
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Cato Institute
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Very good book

Interesting reading that gives the facts on attempts to control people outside the scope of the Bill of Rights.

Nice summary of what really happened in the Heller case

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.

Important material crisply delivered.

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.

Comes from a journalist who probes the case and its results

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