The History of Heller

Brian Doherty | May 6, 2009

The May 2009 American Spectator reviews my new book Gun Control on Trial, on the history of the precedent-setting 2008 Supreme Court case that revived the Second Amendment, D.C. v. Heller. An excerpt:

The outcome of Heller is much like the circumstances surrounding it: confusing and complex, with more questions than answers. That point is driven home in Brian Doherty's fine new book, Gun Control on Trial: Inside the Supreme Court Battle over the Second Amendment. In addition to examining the history of Heller, Doherty, a senior editor for Reason magazine, examines the history of gun rights before the Second Amendment, how anti-gun legal scholars twisted the original meaning of the Second Amendment and how more recent scholarship has revived it, the ineffectiveness of gun-control laws, and the cultural divide between Second Amendment supporters and opponents. 

My book was excerpted in Reason magazine's December 2008 issue. Yesterday, I wrote about the positive aftermath of Heller in the courts so far.