New Ahrends stocks for one of the S&W Combat Magnums. The wood is Cordia.
A few days ago, I spoke to a friend who’s a lawyer friendly to the LGBT cause in Atlanta, and the scuttlebutt is that there’s an amicus curiae brief in favor of the appellants in McDonald v Chicago. We’re going to be keeping some strange…ahem…bedfellows on this one.
Which means two things. First off, I need to get a good shave and iron a shirt if I’m to hang with that crowd!
Second, people from all political sectors are going to be interested in the outcome. This case is about an entire doctrine of Constitutional interpretation; the 2nd Amendment is only a vehicle.
All of which means we’ve got to be accepting and open-minded when dealing with our new allies. This is a chance to truly “mainstream” the 2nd Amendment in the pantheon of civil rights, not just in the courts, but in public opinion. Every chance we get counts, but this is the big one, gang.
With that in mind, I’ve compiled a partial reading list for anyone interested in the subject:
Akhil Amar’s The Bill of Rights is one of the most erudite works I’ve read on the subject at large. He spends a great deal of ink on the drafting and purpose of the Reconstruction Amendments, and as a whole, the book is an excellent and vital read. Gura frequently uses it as a reference, and you’ll find citations of it in almost every amicus brief filed in the Heller case, as well as in the cases leading up to McDonald in the apellate courts.
No State Shall Abridge by Michael Kent Curtis is another great and lively read. For another point of view, there is Raoul Berger’s Government by the Judiciary. Berger was a vehement critic of the Warren court and incorporation in general. He and Curtis engage in a bit of point/counterpoint here.
On Misreading John Binham and the Fourteenth Amendment is an must-read by Richard Aynes, in which he calmly and soundly employs historical record to refute many of the post-Adamson arguments of Charles Fairman, an associate of Justice Frankfurter. It was here that the doctrine of Due Process incorporation truly trumped the Privileges or Immunities clause.
Gabriel Chin and Anjali Abraham delve into the original process of ratification, and David Hardy surveys the print media of the time to illuminate public opinion and press reaction to the Civil Rights Act and 14th Amendment.
The original Congressional debates from the 39th Session are available here.