On Monday I had the opportunity to attend a book forum at the Cato Institute entitled “Gun Control on Trial” after Brian Doherty’s book on the subject. Doherty, senior editor of Reason Magazine, former Brookes Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (Bureaucrash’s mothership), and author of the Radicals for Capitalism, is not only talented with the pen but is of a rare breed of excellent authors that can communicate just as well verbally.

Also on the panel moderated by Tim Lynch was Christoper Rhee, presently an attorney at a big DC law firm and (apologies for this missing info) former counsel to some bureaucrats on the federal level who have worked to uphold gun control. Rhee’s main criticism of the Heller decision, apart from his belief that the Second Amendment applies to militias and not individuals, was that it was a clear case of “judicial activism” — a pejorative term in many conversations. Yet, even if the SCOTUS ruling in Heller can be seen as activism, it was activism that was needed to rectify the perverse interpretations lower courts have had regarding this issue. Rhee even referred to the Second Amendment as an “archaic provision”, akin to the Third Amendment.

To touch on a post from earlier this week, Doherty noted Obama’s “history of disrespect for gun rights” and that Eric Holder, the person Obama nominated for U.S. Attorney General, supported the DC government (i.e. pro-gun prohibition) in the Heller case. Yet, with memories of 1994 and 2000 in mind, Doherty stated that Obama is politically savvy enough to not pressure Pelosi or Reed, the leaders of the Senate and House, to attempt to pass any draconian victim disarmament.

If you’re at all interested in the Second Amendment, the SCOTUS, or I strongly recommend picking up a copy of Gun Control on Trial — a book that, in just over 100 pages, provides a very informative interesting look at this case, the actions of the SCOTUS, and the historical roots of both. For more information on the Heller case, Lynch recommended lead attorney Alan Gura’s DCGunCase.com.

For more on this issue, check out our three-minute video with Heller and others involved with the case: “Heller Yeah!“, our Contraband offering Beats the Hell out of Pepper Spray, and the “Gun Owners for Freedom” group over at Bureaucrash Social.