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Out of Range: Why the Constitution Can't End the Battle over Guns by Mark V. Tushnet

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Out of Range: Why the Constitution Can't End the Battle over Guns Mark V. Tushnet
Language: English
Page: 176
Format: pdf
ISBN: 0195304244, 9780195304244
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

From Publishers Weekly

For Harvard Law professor Tushnet, the long-lived culture war over the Second Amendment is less about the Constitution than "how we understand ourselves as Americans." That said, the lion's share of the book is dedicated to a penetrating textual analysis of the Second Amendment, "the right to bear arms," one of the most vociferously and inconclusively argued aspects of the U.S. Constitution. Both sides are unyielding on their respective viewpoints: gun rights advocates rely on "originalist" Constitutional interpretation, invoking the founders' original intention to provide a means of defense against government oppression; gun control supporters argue from a collective rights perspective, looking at gun ownership like automobile ownership, a privilege for lawmakers to grant, regulate and revoke as needed. Tushnet demonstrates how little water both narratives hold, and notes that even accepting "the best versions" of gun-rights proponents' arguments, the Constitution still allows for "substantial amounts of gun control." On the other hand, Tushnet wearily concludes that gun control measures have had only marginal effect on gun violence. A number of solutions are proposed, such as providing education and jobs to at-risk youth, but Tushnet's greater contribution could be to help end the unproductive semantic debates that have kept the issue hot but its resolution out of reach.
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"Brisk, even-handed, and illuminating discussion...Tushnet has provided a balanced, intelligent, and exceedingly useful guide to the Second Amendment."--The New Republic

"Carefully analyzing text, history, precedent, and ramifications for public policy, Tushnet demonstrates how to wrestle with a difficult question of constitutional interpretation. His lively book will interest everyone who wants to learn how scholars and courts cut through competing claims to decide what the Constitution means."--Carl T. Bogus, Professor of Law, Roger Williams University

"Timely and astute, Out of Range makes us think through the divisive legal arguments about the Second Amendment and face our cultural war over guns."--Joan Burbick, author of Gun Show Nation: Gun Culture and American Democracy

"Brisk, even-handed, and illuminating discussion... Tushnet has provided a balanced, intelligent, and exceedingly useful guide to the Second Amendment."--The New Republic

"Carefully analyzing text, history, precedent, and ramifications for public policy, Tushnet demonstrates how to wrestle with a difficult question of constitutional interpretation. His lively book will interest everyone who wants to learn how scholars and courts cut through competing claims to decide what the Constitution means."--Carl T. Bogus, Professor of Law, Roger Williams University

"Timely and astute, Out of Range makes us think through the divisive legal arguments about the Second Amendment and face our cultural war over guns."--Joan Burbick, author of Gun Show Nation: Gun Culture and American Democracy

"Tushnet (Harvard Law School) writes about the Second Amendment with awareness of what is going on in the courts, at law schools, and in the streets--or in this case, the woods... The book evinces considerable immersion into the worlds of people who own guns, including what they believe, where they live, and how they argue... Highly recommended."--CHOICE