The Gun Dilemma
How History is Against Expanded Gun Rights
Published on 14. November 2022
Book
Hardback
200 pages
978-0-19-764374-7 (ISBN)
Description
An informed and sophisticated look at the current debate between gun laws and gun rights in America.
Contemporary gun controversies are deeply rooted in our history, yet much of that history is unknown, ignored, or distorted. This is all the more important because a new gun rights movement is pressing to expand the definition of gun rights well beyond the standard set by the Supreme Court in its landmark, controversial Heller ruling from 2008. These activists' efforts have found a receptive audience among a new generation of very conservative federal judges cultivated in part for their professed adherence to the doctrine of constitutional Originalism and fealty to an expansive reading of gun rights.
In The Gun Dilemma, Robert J. Spitzer examines this "gun rights 2.0" movement in the light of a host of gun controversies: assault weapons, ammunition magazines, silencers, public gun brandishing and display, and the emergent Second Amendment sanctuary movement. Given the importance of actual gun law history to this debate, Spitzer draws from the historical record to illuminate several contemporary and emergent gun controversies that may well make their way to the Supreme Court. Revealing and illuminating as that history is, he argues that we should not be straitjacketed by that history, but rather informed by it as the nation struggles with how to frame its gun policies.
By utilizing novel information sources to explore both gun law history and current debates, The Gun Dilemma provides an informed and sophisticated challenge to the ascendant originalists who appear to be set on enshrining in law a radical libertarian vision of gun rights.
Contemporary gun controversies are deeply rooted in our history, yet much of that history is unknown, ignored, or distorted. This is all the more important because a new gun rights movement is pressing to expand the definition of gun rights well beyond the standard set by the Supreme Court in its landmark, controversial Heller ruling from 2008. These activists' efforts have found a receptive audience among a new generation of very conservative federal judges cultivated in part for their professed adherence to the doctrine of constitutional Originalism and fealty to an expansive reading of gun rights.
In The Gun Dilemma, Robert J. Spitzer examines this "gun rights 2.0" movement in the light of a host of gun controversies: assault weapons, ammunition magazines, silencers, public gun brandishing and display, and the emergent Second Amendment sanctuary movement. Given the importance of actual gun law history to this debate, Spitzer draws from the historical record to illuminate several contemporary and emergent gun controversies that may well make their way to the Supreme Court. Revealing and illuminating as that history is, he argues that we should not be straitjacketed by that history, but rather informed by it as the nation struggles with how to frame its gun policies.
By utilizing novel information sources to explore both gun law history and current debates, The Gun Dilemma provides an informed and sophisticated challenge to the ascendant originalists who appear to be set on enshrining in law a radical libertarian vision of gun rights.
Reviews / Votes
The conservatives' campaign to expand gun rights through the legislatures and courts often is cloaked in faulty claims about American history. In this book, Robert Spitzer sets the historical record straight when it comes to regulating large-capacity magazines, silencers, and carrying guns in public, as well as with the particularly scary "sanctuary" movement. Common-sense gun regulation, it turns out, is as American as apple pie, and there remains broad public support for that approach. Spitzer's well-founded concern, amply illustrated in this book, is that that approach is being trumped by a pro-gun judicial ideology, putting public safety further at risk. * Philip J. Cook, Professor Emeritus of Public Policy and Economics, Duke University * In an illuminating and wide-ranging analysis, Robert Spitzer demonstrates that many of the most pressing elements of the contemporary gun debate are, in fact, not all that new. Examining a number of different pressing areas of gun policy, this book makes clear that - despite being rife with claims about the role of guns in the country's past-the US firearms debate often centers on a version of history that is incomplete at best and distorted at worst. Spitzer not only sets the historical record straight, but does in a way that sheds important light on how to navigate 'the gun fork in the road' at which the country finds itself. * Matthew Lacombe, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Barnard College, Columbia University * In The Gun Dilemma, Robert Spitzer offers a master class in contemporary gun politics. Spitzer focuses on issues with major social implications: high-capacity magazines, silencers, and-most crucially- guns in public places. The book sets the historical record straight and highlights crucial misperceptions among gun advocates and courts alike. * Alexandra Filindra, Associate Professor of Political Science and Psychology, The University of Illinois at Chicago * According to Spitzer (Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science Emeritus at SUNY-Cortland), the United States is at a gun policy fork in the road (ch. 1)...One path leads to violence-reducing gun laws that Spitzer argues American public opinion supports and asserts the country needs; the other path leads to regressive legal decisions expanding gun rights by Federalist Society-backed Originalist judges, especially on the Supreme Court (p. 22)...The Gun Dilemma was clearly finished right as the Supreme Courtas Bruen decision was released in June 2022. In what reads as an afterthought, Spitzer notes that the decision is in line with the story he tells. * David Yamane, Gun Curious * Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals. * Choice * As in his other work on gun policy, Spitzer writes in a way that is engaging and accessible to academics and non-experts alike. This book will surely serve as an indispensable resource for scholars seeking to better understand gun policy history. * Melissa K. Merry, University of Louisville, Perspective on Politics *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 237 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
435 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-764374-7 (9780197643747)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
08/2022
OUP eBook
€9.99
Available for download
E-Book
08/2022
OUP eBook
€9.99
Available for download
Person
Robert J. Spitzer is Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science Emeritus at the State University of New York, College at Cortland. He is the author of sixteen books, including four on the presidency and six on gun policy. He is also Series Editor for the book series "American Constitutionalism" for SUNY Press, and the "Presidential Briefing Book" series for Routledge. In 2003, he received the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship. Spitzer is the author of over 700 articles, papers, and op-eds appearing in many books, journals, newspapers, and web sites on a variety of American politics subjects. He served as President of the Presidents and Executive Politics Section of the American Political Science Association and as a member of the New York State Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution. He has testified before Congress on several occasions. Spitzer is often quoted and interviewed by American and international news outlets, including The Today Show,
Good Morning America, ABC Nightly News, PBS's News Hour, MSNBC's All In With Chris Hayes, Countdown With Keith Olbermann, CNN, NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, The Diane Rehm Show, 1A, documentary films "Guns and Mothers" (PBS, 2003), "Under the Gun" (Katie Couric Film Company, Epix, 2016), "The Price of Freedom" (Flatbush Pictures/Tribeca Films, 2021) and media outlets in over twenty countries. His articles have appeared in such publications as the New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, CNN.com, the New York Daily News, Time Magazine, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, and Salon, among others. He was also a visiting professor at Cornell University for thirty years.
Good Morning America, ABC Nightly News, PBS's News Hour, MSNBC's All In With Chris Hayes, Countdown With Keith Olbermann, CNN, NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, The Diane Rehm Show, 1A, documentary films "Guns and Mothers" (PBS, 2003), "Under the Gun" (Katie Couric Film Company, Epix, 2016), "The Price of Freedom" (Flatbush Pictures/Tribeca Films, 2021) and media outlets in over twenty countries. His articles have appeared in such publications as the New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, CNN.com, the New York Daily News, Time Magazine, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, and Salon, among others. He was also a visiting professor at Cornell University for thirty years.
Content
Acknowledgments
Chapter One: The Gun Policy Fork in the Road
Chapter Two: Assault Weapons and Ammunition Magazines
Chapter Three: The Sound of Silencers
Chapter Four: Weapons Brandishing and Display
Chapter Five: Second Amendment Sanctuaries: Coloring Outside the Lines of Federalism
Chapter Six: Conclusion: Navigating the Gun Fork in the Road
About the Author
Notes
Index
Chapter One: The Gun Policy Fork in the Road
Chapter Two: Assault Weapons and Ammunition Magazines
Chapter Three: The Sound of Silencers
Chapter Four: Weapons Brandishing and Display
Chapter Five: Second Amendment Sanctuaries: Coloring Outside the Lines of Federalism
Chapter Six: Conclusion: Navigating the Gun Fork in the Road
About the Author
Notes
Index