Gun-rights supporters are eagerly awaiting the Supreme Court's upcoming decision in D.C. v. Heller

National Review, May 19, 2008

Gun-rights supporters are eagerly awaiting the Supreme Court's upcoming decision in D.C. v. Heller. The justices are likely to declare the Second Amendment an individual right, and could very well strike down the handgun ban in the nation's capital. But until then, fans of firearms would do well to read "Much Ado About ...

Something Else," a paper from the University of Colorado Law School's Maxine Burkett. The professor takes a close look at how racial politics have intertwined with the Second Amendment fight over the years. It has been well documented that Southern states often used gun control to disarm blacks, and Condoleezza Rice has commented on the role guns played in the civil-rights struggle, but never before has a single source pulled together so much information on the subject. The lesson we draw is that the right to own guns is itself an important civil right.