The stage was set on the morning of March 18, 2008 for one of the most important legal battles in recent times. Seeking to breathe new life into the Second Amendment was Alan Gura, a young litigator who had never before argued a case at the Supreme Court. Not only was he up against two of the nation's most formidable lawyers, but, after fighting the National Rifle Association (NRA) at every turn, he now carried the weight of the American gun rights movement on his shoulders. Win or lose, his case would forever reshape the national dialogue over guns and gun ownership. In this book the author, a professor of Constitutional law, uses the landmark 2008 case District of Columbia v. Heller, which invalidated a law banning handguns in the nation's Capitol, as a springboard for a historical narrative of America's four-centuries-long political battle over gun control and the right to bear arms. From the Founding Fathers and the Second Amendment to the origins of the Ku Klux Klan, ironically as a gun control organization, the debate over guns has always generated controversy. Whether examining the Black Panthers' role in provoking the modern gun rights movement or Ronald Reagan's efforts to curtail gun ownership, the author 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.
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